New Delhi: After 65 years of independence, the present Congress-led government is pushing the media to not speak the truth and to gag it. It is practically the Emergency revisited in India on November 27, 2012, a day that will also be known as a black day in Indian history.

While the matter is sub-judice before the honourable High Court of Bombay, to circumvent the judicial process and the orders of the honourable High Court, the Delhi Police, at the behest of a Congress MP, orchestrated the arrests of two senior editors of Zee News, Samir Ahluwalia and Sudhir Chaudhary, on the basis of a fraudulent and contrived complaint filed on behalf of his company, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL).

The arrests have been made to sensationalise the issue and to lend a cover to the coal scam and in particular to favour Naveen Jindal, Congress MP, and his company JSPL.

This is a crude attack on the freedom of the press, a constitutionally enshrined right. JSPL is using the state machinery, controlled by the Congress both at the Centre and in Delhi, to muzzle voices of dissent and to interfere with the legitimate rights of the media in an attempt to divert attention from its illegalities and misdeeds, which the Zee News editors had sought to highlight in the public interest.

The first information report (FIR) registered against the two editors and others is nothing but a clever attempt to divert attention from JSPL's own role in the coal scam, which was exposed by the CAG and is being investigated by the CBI.

The channel vehemently denies all allegations levelled against it. The channel strongly condemns the arbitrary and illegal action of the Delhi Police in arresting its two editors and for initiating a malicious, illegal and motivated prosecution. We wish to reiterate that no offence has been committed by members of the Zee News staff.

The Union home minister, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, on Monday said that the Centre would not make any announcement on Telangana without considering the Naxal problem. Stating that reports had indicated that “creation of smaller states had seen the spread of Naxalism”, the minister said that with Naxal activities on the rise in smaller states like Chhattisgarh, the Centre was bound to consider the Naxal issue before taking a decision on Telangana.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, Mr Shinde, who as the home minister, deals with the formation of new states under Article 3 of statute, said that many delegations from AP had met him recently to place their views on the Telangana issue. “I have heard them carefully. It is a long pending issue. There are different opinions and we have to see all of them. We have to deal carefully,” he said.
Reacting to TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s statement that the Centre would be announcing a Telangana state before September end, Mr Shinde said it was quite common for leaders taking up agitations to talk like that. “We will take a decision before 2014 elections, that is certain,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Rao who has been camping in Delhi, met the Union minister, Mr Vayalar Ravi, on Monday. Mr Ravi said that he discussed the Telangana issue with Mr Rao and refused to give more details.
HM: no decision yet on all-party meet
Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said that he needed more time to study the Telangana statehood issue as he had taken up the responsibilities of ministry recently. "I am new to this ministry, let me get the full details of the issue," he added. When asked about the Centre convening an all party conference to arrive at a consensus on the Telangana issue, the home minister said: “It is not possible in the immediate future, it will take some more time.” Union minister and AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad had told this newspaper on Sunday that there was no consensus on the Telangana issue and as such there could not be a deadline or time limit for the Centre to announce a decision in this regard.

With time running out for the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, it's contemplating a series of steps to arrest the drift in the state before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The multi-pronged strategy includes revamp of the state Congress, a possible merger of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with the party and buying peace with YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who is believed to have eaten into the Congress' support base in Seemandhra (Andhra and Rayalaseema regions).

The Telangana statehood demand is currently the biggest headache for the Congress, with pro-Telangana groups gearing up to lay siege to Hyderabad on September 30.

But hope, and an opportunity, has come in the form of signals from the TRS that it is ready to sacrifice its political identity in exchange for statehood.

TRS president K. Chandrasekhara Rao, who has been camping in New Delhi for the last 16 days, is understood to have put forth a proposal that he is willing to merge his party with the Congress if the Centre agrees to make Telangana a separate state within a specific time-frame.

Rao is understood to have discussed the proposal with AICC incharge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad and party observer Vayalar Ravi.

He is expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi soon to discuss the prospects of merger.

Though the TRS leaders are reluctant to publicly accept it just yet, they concede in private that there's indeed such a proposal. "We are ready for any sacrifice provided we get the Telangana state," TRS legislature party leader E. Rajender said.

Last Monday, Sonia had a meeting with top party leaders, including Azad, Ravi, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and her political secretary Ahmed Patel in the wake of the feelers from the TRS.

Sources said the home ministry may call an all-party meeting after September 30 to kickstart the process of granting the statehood demand.

The Congress is under tremendous pressure from its own leaders from Telangana to take an early decision on statehood if it has to survive in the next elections.

"While the YSR Congress Party is all set to sweep the polls in Seemandhra, the battlefield in Telangana is wide open. If the Centre concedes the statehood demand and the TRS merges with the Congress, it will be advantageous for us in the region," a party MP said.

The impending revival of the statehood agitation has further pushed the Congress to a corner. Amid fears that the Telangana march on September 30 may turn violent, governor ESL Narasimhan on Thursday briefed Sonia on the latest political situation and met Shinde on Friday.

"ఆత్మగౌరవంతో కూడిన ధిక్కారం ఎంతున్నా ఫరవాలేదు.. అజ్ఞానంతో కూడుకున్న అహంకారం అరువంత ఉన్నా పతనం తప్పదు"

ఒకప్పుడు చదువు కొని వాళ్ళు మాత్రమే నాయకుల మాటలకి మోసపోయే వాళ్ళు , ఎప్పుడూ అయితే లోక్ సత్త పార్టీ ఏర్పడిందో బాగా చదువుకున్న వాళ్ళు కూడా కుహన మేధావులుగా తాయారు అయితున్నారు . అలంటి కుహన పేస్ బుక్ మిత్రుడు పేరు రవీంద్ర నందం తెల్లారి లేస్తే అవినితిపైన గజ్జ కట్టుకొని కోతిలాగా ఎగురుతాడు. తన అహంకారం అద్ద

India Against Corruption (IAC) members Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal on Friday accused Congress president

Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra of large-scale corruption in real estate dealings. In a highly speculated press

conference, the IAC members alleged that real estate giant DLF had sold him prime land at throw-away prices and given him

interest-free loans. They said, Robert Vadra’s wealth grew from Rs 50 lakh to over Rs 300 crore in three years, according to

Times Now.

Robert Vadra, who comes from a brass and wood handicraft merchant’s family, is married to Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv

Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi.

Speculation was rife among political observers in the national capital about activist Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement to

‘expose’ the corruption of a “powerful political leader” on Friday. Kejriwal had said on October 2 that his group would reveal

sensational information against two political leaders on Saturday. However, the IAC changed its plans and held its press

conference on Friday.

Cooking gas (LPG) price was on Saturday hiked by Rs 11.42 per cylinder following government decision to raise

commission paid to the dealers.

Petrol and diesel prices too may go up marginally as the Oil Ministry considers raising dealers commission by at least 23

paisa and 10 paisa a litre respectively.

The Ministry yesterday issued orders raising commission paid to LPG dealers from Rs 25.83 per 14.2-kg cylinder to Rs

37.25, government officials said.

The 44 percent or Rs 11.42 per cylinder increase in the commission on the subsidised cooking fuel is being passed on to

consumers, they said.

For the consumer, subsidised LPG in Delhi will now cost Rs 410.42 per cylinder, up from Rs 399.

The hike comes within weeks of the government deciding to restrict supply of subsidised cooking gas to 6 cylinders of 14.2

-kg size per household in a year. The remaining supplies would have to be sourced at market rates.

Officials said the commission paid on market price or non-subsidised LPG too has been raised by Rs 12.17 to Rs 38 per

cylinder. Accordingly, a non-subsidised LPG cylinder price will go up from Rs 883.5 to Rs 921.5.

A similar exercise is on to raise commission paid to petrol pump dealers on sale of petrol and diesel. The Ministry is

proposing to raise commission paid on petrol by 23 paisa to 1.72 and that on diesel by 10 paisa to Rs 1.01 a litre.

The hike being considered for petrol and diesel is less than 67 paisa and 42 paisa respectively being demanded by petrol

pump dealers in view of their working capital cost going up substantially due to frequent price changes and sharp rise in

overheads like electricity charges.

The government has also raised commission paid on 5-kg cylinders by Rs 5.33 to Rs 18.63. Currently, petrol pump dealers

get Rs 1.49 a litre commission on sale of petrol and Rs 0.91 a litre on diesel.

Pump operators have demanded that this be raised to Rs 2.10 a litre on petrol and Rs 1.33 per litre on diesel reasoning that

unlike LPG agencies, petrol pumps open 365 days a year on 24 hours basis thereby incurring higher operating cost.

LPG agencies are closed on national holidays as well as once a week.

Besides, petrol pumps provide free facilities such as toilets, water and air-pressure for tyres, while LPG dealers do not

provide any such service, Federation of All India Petroleum Traders (FAIPT) general secretary Ajay Bansal said.

Also, LPG rates haven't increased in over a year but petrol and diesel prices have seen frequent changes.

"Increase in prices mean our working capital (money used to buy fuel from oil companies) goes up. Also, our losses

increase because of evaporation of fuel," he said questioning the Oil Ministry's rationale of hiking LPG dealers commission

by almost 50 percent and offering only 10 percent to petrol pumps.

Officials said the hike in LPG rates comes within days of oil firms raising price of non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) by Rs

127 per cylinder to Rs 883.5 on account of increase in international oil prices.

The government has granted exemption from customs and excise duty on non-subsidised LPG cylinders only for domestic

consumption to reduce the price burden on the common man.

The price of commercial 14.2-kg LPG cylinder in Delhi will be Rs 1,062, while that of a 19-kg bottle would be Rs 1,536.5.

Sorce: 1stnews9.com