Chandigarh : Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers on Tuesday demanded Haryana Assembly’s time to discuss the controversial Manesar land deal a day after the Supreme Court set aside Congress government’s decision to drop acquisition of 688 acres of land. Waving copies of newspapers that carried the story, BJP lawmakers led by Finance Minister Abhimanyu demanded a discussion in the house over what they called a “very important discussion”. The Supreme Court on Monday cancelled Hooda government’s decision to drop acquisition of 688 acres of land in Manesar. The court called the decisions taken by the previous Congress regime under former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and dated August 24 2007, and January 29, 2010, an abuse of power, and said it showed an “unholy nexus” between government and private builders, and asked the CBI to investigate the case thoroughly.

Delhi HC judge recuses herself from hearing Karti’s bail plea New Delhi : Justice Indermeet Kaur of the Delhi High Court on Tuesday recused herself from hearing the bail plea of Karti Chidambaram, arrested by the CBI in the INX Media corruption case. Justice Kaur, who did not give any reason for her recusal, said she would refer the matter to the Acting Chief Justice for assigning the bail plea to another bench for Tuesday itself. The bail plea was on Monday mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar and was listed for hearing on Tuesday. Karti’s parents P Chidambaram and Nalini Chidambaram, both senior advocates, were present in the courtroom. Karti, the arrested son of former Union minister P Chidambaram, had moved the high court seeking bail, hours after a court here sent him to judicial custody till March 24. A special court had on Monday sent Karti to judicial custody in the INX Media corruption case and dismissed his plea that he be put in a separate cell in Tihar Jail in view of a threat perception. The court had also dismissed his appeal for an urgent hearing on his bail plea and the threat perception due to the fact that his father, as a Union minister in the previous UPA government, had handled several sensitive issues. The court had sent him to Tihar Jail after the CBI, in whose custody he was quizzed for 12 days in a row after his arrest on February 28 from Chennai, said he was no longer required for further custodial interrogation. The court said his bail plea would be heard on March 15 as scheduled. Karti was arrested by the CBI on his return from the United Kingdom in connection with an FIR lodged on May 15 last year. It alleged irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance given to a media house, INX Media, for receiving funds of about Rs 305 crore from overseas in 2007 when his father was the Union finance minister. The CBI had initially alleged that Karti received Rs 10 lakh as bribe for facilitating the FIPB clearance to INX Media. It, however, later revised the figure to USD 1 million (about Rs 6.5 crore at the current exchange rate and Rs 4.5 crore in 2007). The fresh evidence in the case, which triggered Karti’s arrest, was based on a statement of Indrani Mukerjea, former director of INX Media (P) Ltd, who recorded it under Section 164 of the CrPC before a magistrate on February 17.

Rajasthan’s Shekhawati belt has been a playground for poll politics since Jawaharlal Nehru. With the Jats in dominance in Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Nagar and Churu districts, all Prime Ministers have showered sops on the people of this area. Some days ago, PM Narendra Modi did launch “National Nutrition Mission-2022” and expand the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” movement during his Rajasthan tour, but he made no effort to please the Jats. Even his own party MLAs and MP had expected some praise as a morale- booster. It was the PM’s third visit to the state in seven months. The first one was in Udaipur and the second Barmer. While Nehru had set up the Central Electronic Research Institute at Pilani, Indira Gandhi had laid the stone of a copper plant at Khetari. Deve Gowda had launched a German-based potable water scheme in the salty terrain of Mandwa, Rajiv Gandhi had set up girls’ hostels and AB Vajpayee had announced reservation for Jats, Bishnois and Meos during his Sikar tour. Basking in the party’s N-E success, the BJP believes the PM’s visit will help break caste equations in the Shekhawati region. But the BJP, holding three of the seven Assembly seats in Jhunjhunu, forgets it lost the Surajgarh constituency to Congress’ Shravan Kumar in the 2014 byelections. Election phobia Owing to a string of defeats in the byelections to the Lok Sabha, Assembly, civic bodies and Panchayati Raj institutions since February, a panic-stricken Raje government has announced a number of sops in the annual state Budget, despite the state reeling under a revenue deficit, as per the CAG report-2017. The government has announced a Rs 8,000 crore crop loan waiver scheme for farmers, done away with toll tax on highways, raised the upper age limit for jobs to 40, announced tax relief for various sectors and free college education to middle-class families besides 1 per cent quota for five communities, including the Gurjars. The All-India Kisan Sabha and the Gurjar Sangarsh Samiti have rejected the government’s farm loan waiver and quota.Threatening to revive agitation, the Gurjars are adamant on 5 per cent reservation by bifurcating 21 per cent of the OBC quota while the farmers want loan waiver from not just the coop banks but all other banks too besides implementation of Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations. ‘Congress-mukt’ RS After the Rajya Sabha biennial elections on three seats on March 23, the Congress will have no representation from Rajasthan as the BJP will hold all 10 RS seats. The BJP has decided to give one seat to National People’s Party patron Kirorilal Meena after his “ghar vapsi”. The party has four MLAs. Adieu to jeans No more jeans, Higher Education Minister Kiran Maheshwari has made it compulsory for girls to come in salwar-suit with dupatta or a sari from the next academic session. The boys will be attired in a shirt and trousers. Both would have to wear shoes or sandals.The colour of the uniform would be decided by respective colleges.

Jammu & Kashmir : Three militants killed in encounter in J-K’s Anantnag. Two of the slain militants have been identified as Eesa Fazli, of Srinagar, and Syed Owais Shafi, of south Kashmir’s Kokernag, while the identity of the third is being ascertained, a police statement said. Security forces in Anantnag’s Hakura where three terrorists were killed in an encounter on Monday morning. Three militants, including one who allegedly killed a policeman in Srinagar last month, were shot dead in an encounter with security forces early on Monday, police said. Two of the slain militants have been identified as Eesa Fazli, of Srinagar, and Syed Owais Shafi, of south Kashmir’s Kokernag, while the identity of the third is being ascertained, a police statement said. Based on information regarding the presence of militants, security forces started a search in Hakoora area of Anantnag district. A gun-battle ensued when the militants fired on the search team, officials said. Police said AK 47 rifles, pistols and hand grenades have been recovered from the encounter site. To avoid any law and order situation in the area, authorities have imposed restrictions and ordered that all educational institutes in Srinagar will remain closed for the day. All scheduled exams in Kashmir have been postponed. A senior police officer said Fazli, who hails from the Soura locality of Srinagar city, was the alleged mastermind behind the killing of police constable Farooq Ahmed Yatoo, when he was on duty as a guard outside the residence of separatist leader Fazal Haq Qureshi, who had survived an attempt on his life in 2009. The terror outfit Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the killing of constable Yatoo on their official channel. Police sources say Fazli’s relation with the IS is a matter of investigation, and hinted at his inclination towards the outfit.

THENI: Nine people have died in the forest fire in Kurangani hills in Theni district of Tamil Nadu by Monday morning, confirmed the district collector of Theni. After night-long operations, a joint team consisting of police, fire and rescue men and forest personnel rescued 27 of the 39 trekkers who were caught in the fire. Among the rescued, four suffered severe burn injuries ranging from 40 per cent to 90 per cent. They were shifted to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai. maduraiVisuals of forest-fire in Kurangani. (ANI photo) The accident spot is 8km uphill out of the 10km trek from Kolukkumalai to Kurangani. It took two to three hours of intensive trek for all rescue team members to reach the spot. The rescue team consisted of around 250 members. On Monday morning, two helicopters took off from the Indian Air Force station. Flight Lieutenant Manoj from Air Force team said they could control the fire in two to three hours by using water. Rajaji Hospital to provide information on injured trekkers. The first rescue operations was started by the 108 ambulance team on Sunday afternoon after one of the trekkers, Nivedha, called the ambulance service from the accident spot. The ambulance’s paramedic, Jegadeesh, was first to reach the spot and render medical help to the injured. State health minister C Vijaya Baskar reached the downhill and said health teams and hospital were ready to treat the injured trekkers. There were 39 trekkers – 12 from Erode and 27 from Chennai. Preliminary investigations revealed that the trekkers, after being caught in fire, tried to take refuge inside a dried up stream. But the dried grass in the stream quickly caught fire.