Shivraj Chouhan takes a dig at Narendra Modi, Jaitley...

NEW DELHI: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday triggered a fresh controversy when he asked politicians to stay away from sports associations. Mr Chouhan’s remarks, made during the course of a press conference here on Friday, were seen by political observers as yet another manifestation of the factional infighting that has gripped BJP in the past few years. Several senior party leaders man important positions in various sporting bodies, and the Madhya Pradesh chief minister’s utterances were seen as being directed at them. BJP Rajya Sabha leader Arun Jaitley heads the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is the boss of the Gujarat Cricket Association. Hamirpur MP Anurag Singh Thakur presides over the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association and opposition leader of Delhi Vijay Kumar Malhotra is the senior vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association and president of the Archery Association of India. ``I feel that political leaders should stay away from sports associations,’’ the Madhya Pradesh chief minister told newspersons after meeting sports and youth affairs minister M S Gill to take up cudgels on behalf of the Indian hockey players, who have been agitating for better working conditions. Mr Chouhan sought to come to the aid of the hockey players, particularly the members of the women’s team, by offering Rs one crore. His attempts to present a cheque of that amount to the sports ministers could not succeed as the latter could not specify the name of the person or the body after whom it was to be made out. When it was pointed out to him that several of his party colleagues were leading important sporting bodies, Mr Chouhan said he was taking any names, but was only making a `general’ suggestion. ``There is more politics setting into sports, rather than sports influencing the course of politics,’’ he contended. He also expresses his disgust over the way hockey was being managed in the country, asserting that Indian hockey had become `a joke.’ This is not the first time that Mr Chouhan has entered into competitive politics with his party colleagues. Earlier this month, he had raised several eyebrows when came out in the open against the Gujarat government’s move to implement compulsory voting in elections to local bodies. He argued that the political class should discharge their responsibilities dutifully to ensure that the faith of the poor in the political class grows stronger, thereby encouraging them to vote in large numbers. The Gujarat chief minister was the target of his Madhya Pradesh counterpart’s diatribe on Friday also, leading party leaders to wonder whether there was another personality clash building up here. (This article was printed in The Economic Times).

ADANI LETHARGY IN COAL EXPLORATION AT MORGA II

Ahmedabad, Jan 22:

Hyderabad based KSK energy which has agreement with State owned Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation(GMDC) for supply of coal for its 1750 MW power plant at Chhatisgarh has written to Gujarat Government drawing attention that GMDC is going slow to start mining at Morga II coal block . It has drawn the attention that GMDC had promised it would begin the development of the coal block but however was going at a very slow pace which was resulting in financial loss to KSK.

The letter written by KSK gains significance because it is being openly alleged that GMDC has been deliberately going slow at the behest of a Gujarat based industrial house. The official KSK communiqué points out that GMDC has given Adani Enterprsises the job of exploration at Morga II block from where coal is to be supplied for the power plant. Interestingly, KSK and Adani are competitors in the energy sector.

GMDC awarded coal exploration contract to Adani enterprises in October 2009 but no work has yet commenced. K Kishore, director of KSK has written to industries and mines secretary Maheshwar Sahu in Gujarat requesting that GMDC be asked to present a plan as to how they wish to comply with the development milestones.

“we have endeavoured to keep all our commitments to GMDC and we are on schedule in our power project and cannot afford any delay in receipt of coal from Morga”, Mr S Kishore has written in his letter.

KSK cannot bid for power supply to Gujarat if coal exploration does not begin. KSK has offered to supply power to Gujarat at 1.98 rs per unit. This delay could benefit Adani who would then supply power at a higher rate to Gujarat. Earlier the Gujarat High Court also pulled up the Gujarat government for favouring Adani and buying power at higher cost and weeding out other competitors who were ready to supply power at same rate or in some cases even at rates lower than Adanis.

In 2008, Gujarat government purchased power on short term basis worth Rs 670 crore out of which 437 crore of power was purchased from Adani Enterprises. Adani enterprise sold power at a whopping rate of Rs 6.48 paise per unit.

However, in the letter sent to Gujarat government whose copy is with this newspaper, Mr S Kishore has pointed out that KSK has achieved financial closure for its entire 3600 MW power project to be set up in Chhatisgarh.. KSK has informed gujarat government that it so keen to commence plant at the earliest that it has already made necessary capital arrangements to fund the project execution. KSK has said for this ambitious 16,1`90 crore project, they have raised 4,048 crore from the market through its IPO and tied up with a variety of banking and financial institutions and have managed to get Rs 12,142 crore.

KSK has already placed equipment purchase order for its power plant but sadly till coal exploration commences, it is helpless.

KSK has written to Gujarat government, “our financial leaders have expressed their concern at the slow paced development of Morga II coal block. Failure of GMDC would result in huge financial loss for our company. “KSK has requested a joint meeting of GMDC and Gujarat government officials to sort out the issue.

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Geetha Johri does not want to be a part of SIT anymore...

Senior IPS officer Geetha Johri has written to SIT chairman R K Raghavan and drawn the attention of the amicus curiae of SC Harish Salve regarding “allegations” made against her in the Supreme Court. Ms Johri has categorically requested that she be dropped from the high powered Special Investigation Team (SIT)appointed on instructions of the Supreme Court toinvestigate select cases of large-scale violence and massacres that took place in Gujarat in the aftermath of the 2002 communal riots. The SIT is also probing the role of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat riots.

Ms Johri confirmed that she does not want to be a part of the SIT in view of the recent Supreme Court observations where allegations were made about the way she had conducted investigations in the Sohrabuddin Fake encounter case. The investigation of this case has now been handed over to the CBI.

On Tuesday, solicitor general of India ,Gopal Subramanian , during hearing in the Supreme Court on the SIT, sought reconstitution of the SIT . He submitted the team should be reconstituted because the Apex Court has passed sever remarks against one of the members ( Ms Johri) in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, which has now been given to CBI for investigation. Interestingly, the Court has accepted the submission and posted the matter for further hearing on February 9.

Ms Johri has drawn the attention of Mr Salve regarding allegations made against her. She believes that her integrity and objectivity is constantly being questioned,” a senior official of Gujarat government told this paper.

While ordering the CBI probe in the sensational encounter case in which Sohrabuddin, his wife Kauser Bi and an informer Tulsiram Prajapati were killed by the Gujarat police, the Supreme Court bench of Justices Tarun Chaterjee and Aftam Alam remarked that the Gujarat police did not investigate the case in proper manner and has left many discrepancies .

"Mr V L Solanki, an investigating officer, was proceeding in the right direction, but Ms Johri had not been carrying out the investigation in the right manner, in view of our discussions made herein above. "It appears that Ms Johri had not made any reference to the second report of Solanki, and that though his first report was attached with one of her reports, the same was not forwarded to this Court. Therefore, we are of the view that her mentioning the criminal background of Sohrabuddin and the discussion among the accused officers concerning Sohrabuddin was meant to obfuscate the enquiry," the apex court said.

The court lamented that the Gujarat Government deliberately attempted to mislead the court on the whereabouts of Sohrabuddin's wife Kauserbi and their family friend Tulsiram Prajapati who are also alleged to have been killed by police to destroy evidence.

The SIT headed by former CBI chief R K Raghavan was constituted under the directives of the Supreme Court last year in April to probe the complaint of Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress Rajyasabha MP Ehsan Jafri . Ehsan Jafri was one of the hundreds who was burnt to death in his Gulberg socity residence in the aftermath of Godhra riots. Ms Jafri has been pointing towards the alleged role of Modi and other senior politicians in the 2002 communal riots. The nine cases SIT is investigating include incidents of Gulberg Society, Naroda Gaon, Naroda Patiya and Sardarpura.

Ex Chief Sec to be Chairman Sardar Sarovar Nigam?

Ex chief Secretary Rajgopalan who was tipped to be advisor to Chief Sec Narendra Modi is likely to be appointed as Chairman Gujarat Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited in place of N V Patel who has been appointed Chairman of Vadodara Urban Development Authority(VUDA) by the evening of Jan 20 , 2010

Urban development Authority appointments

With Corporation elections hovering around important urban development authority appointments have been lined up.

Acc to our highly placed source

Kankaria corporator DHARMENDRA SHAH will be AUDA chairman(Ahmedabad)

N V PATEL, chairman of Narmada Nigam will be VUDA chairman(Vadodara)

and Amoh Natwarlal Shah will be chairman of BUDA Bhavnagar Urban Development Authority.

KIRAN PATEL of Rajkot of Galaxy Group was all set but we are told this GR hasnt been issued yet due to some local representation.. He is/was slated to be RUDA chairman (Rajkot)

URMILAben CHIMANBHAI PATEL:NEW HIMACHAL GOV

congress leader from Gujarat Urmila Chimanbhai Patel is all set to to be the next Governor of Himachal.

well, we just congratulated Siddharth patel and Urmilaben and they said they had no concrete news yet but our sources in Delhi tell us that it is for sure Urmilaben will be the next Himachal gov

Urmilaben is the mother of present Gujarat Cong president Sidharth Patel.

A woman of substance, she assisted her husband late Chimanbhai Patel and made her foray in politics while he was alive.

Dr. Urmilaben Patel(Phd)’s political career came into limelight when she contested an election of Jamnagar Lok Sabha seat in 1991 which she lost to BJP.

Urmilaben was nominated from the Rajyasabha. She then became(10 February 1995) a Minister of State for Power in P.V.Narsimharao’s ministry. Patel was not re-elected to Rajya Sabha after her term ended, but was given a ticket to contest Vadodara Lok Sabha seat in 1999. However she was again defeated by rival BJP candidate, this time – Jayaben Thakkar. Urmilaben was also a Special Invitee in Congress Working Committee after 90s.

For last several years, she was associated with several NGOs. Her son Siddharth Patel, MLA of Dabhoi assembly constituency became Gujarat Congress President in July 2008.

Other new Governor names are

the safari savvy Shivraj Patil : Punjab

National Security Adviser M K Narayanan as Governor of West Bengal,

former Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt for Chhattisgarh

E S L Narasimhan (Chhatisgarh gov)moves to Andhra Pradesh Raj Bhavan, senior Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai will go to Jharkhand for from where K Sankaranarayan will be being shifted to Maharashtra.

Official announcement to be made in next few hours, d Facto sources claimed.

officers nailed by SC

well, we are reading the soharabuddin fake encounter Supreme Court judgement and several gujarat officers have been pulled up badly. shall try to post in detail. Well read about Geetha Johri. Quite unflattering observations made on her role in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.

CBI probe in Sohrabuddin case.

The Narendra Modi government in Gujarat has got a jolt.

Supreme Court has ordered CBI probe into the 2005

Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

A bench of Justices Tarun Chatterjee and Aftab Alam in its verdict accepted the demand for the probe on the plea of the brother of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, who was allegedly killed in a fake encounter by the Gujarat Police.

The decision is a major blow to the BJP government in Gujarat, which has been consistently maintaining that it's SIT was conducting a fair investigation.

There already is a buzz of some arrests in near future.

people power versus Adani Power

read , react and respond!

http://www.sambhaav.com/Sambhaav_metro_citynews.htm

whos next?

this sounds eerie but someone claimed to have got a SMS saying that after Pradip Sharma the next in line of firing is S R Rao.

S R Rao is a '78 batch officer and is right now an additional secretary with ministry of information and technology, New Delhi.

The grapevine buzz is that Mr S R Rao could be pulled by the government in a controversial land dealing during his stint as chairman, AUDA(Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority). Also, his role in a deal where a five star hotel has come up recently is under scrutiny. The hotel is yet to get a BU permission.

This could just be a dirty joke but it sure has created a buzz.

vacancies....

sounds mundane but

when are postings to be made for

ACS (GAD)

commissioner commercial tax

and MD GNFC

also who will be the next municipal commissioner, Bhavnagar foll Pradip Sharma's arrest. Funnily, Bhavnagar mayor Rina Shah was asked in to tender her resignation and she has consquently snapped ties with BJP as well. With elected top slot getting into a controversy, now there is even the municipal commissioner whos been arrested.

also Ms Gauri Kumar has been empaneled as additional secretary and is likely to go to Delhi by Feb end.

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