The Asian Age – Mulayam praises Advani, scolds son

Amita Verma, Asian Age Correspondent

Suday, 24 March 2013. Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday publicly praised senior BJP leader L.K. Advani while upbraiding his son Akhilesh Yadav’s SP government in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Mulayam Singh said Mr Advani had told him that the image of the UP government was not good.

“I know Mr Advani for years and he is an honest man who never tells lies. He told me that there is corruption in UP.

We will have to deal with this firmly. Tell me, how many people have faced action for corruption in the government,” he asked. “I’ll go and meet him (Mr Advani) again,” Mr Mulayam Singh said.

The SP chief’s remarks can also be seen in the light of statements made by SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav who just days ago had said that the former BJP-led NDA government had been “more cohesive” and Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s style of functioning better. “NDA’s coalition was led by Vajpayee and he was a big personality. Other leaders in the coalition, such as L.K. Advani, are one of the biggest leaders of the country,” Mr Ram Gopal Yadav had said.

Mr Yadav, who was addressing a function to mark the birth anniversary of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia here, said UP’s ministers are not serious about their work. “I am not happy with the performance of the government. I have reports about each one of the ministers and if I ask the party workers to raise their hands on their performance, the situation will not be good.

The SP came to power because our workers faced atrocities during the BSP regime and those who have become ministers did not fight it out on the streets. They are taking their jobs for granted,” he said.

Mr Yadav gave the Akhilesh government another five months to improve. “I want to tell Akhilesh that he should not be very happy if people call him good-hearted and simple. To run a government you should be stern and firm, and not just simple,” he said.

“One of our senior ministers (Waqar Ahmad Shah) is in hospital batting for life but not a single minister has bothered to visit him. If this is your attitude towards a colleague, how can you be expected to reach out to the people,” he said.

http://www.asianage.com/india/mulayam-praises-advani-scolds-son-329

The Asian Age – Sonia Gandhi leads UPA attack on L K Advani

Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 9 August 2012. In a rare show of combativeness, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday led the UPA attack in the Lok Sabha against senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, who earlier described UPA-2 as “illegitimate”.

Mr Advani, initiating the debate on the adjournment motion on the Assam ethnic violence, said: “In 2004, the UPA-1 was formed after winning the election, so it was a legitimate government. But UPA-2 is an illegitimate government.” At this, UPA members were on their feet demanding an apology from Mr Advani.

A visibly angry Mrs Gandhi led the protest, asking UPA MPs to stand up and prevent Mr Advani from continuing. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also described Mr Advani’s remark as “disgraceful and unfortunate”.

Mr Advani later clarified he was referring to the contentious July 2008 confidence vote in the Lok Sabha, which the UPA government won.

The BJP, reacting to the Prime Minister’s observation, asked if the “cash-for vote scam was graceful”? The stage now appears set for a fresh bout of confrontation between the ruling and Opposition benches.

Initiating the debate on the Assam violence, Mr Advani called the UPA-2 government “illegitimate”, leading to vociferous protests which forced Speaker Meira Kumar to adjourn the House for a second time. The Speaker also asked Mr Advani to withdraw his remark, upon which the veteran BJP leader said he was referring to the 2008 trust vote and not the 2009 polls.

Mr Advani, accusing the government of failing to control the situation in Assam, said it should not be regarded as ethnic violence and that illegal Bangladeshi migrants, who posed a security threat to Assam and the rest of India, should be identified. Otherwise, he warned, the violence would continue.

http://www.asianage.com/india/sonia-leads-upa-attack-advani-142

The Hindu – Advani’s yatra to end in Delhi today

Ghaziabad/New Delhi, 20 November 2011 Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani’s Jan Chetna yatra is slated to culminate in Delhi on Sunday where party leaders claim that they would stage a massive rally at the Ramlila Maidan.

The party’s “whistleblowers” in the cash-for-vote scam — Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, along with Mr. Advani’s former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni and party worker Suhail Hindustani — will participate in the rally.

The party on Saturday felicitated the four to highlight the corruption issue and demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi clarify their stand on the matter.

Earlier, Mr. Advani reached Ghaziabad on Saturday on the last phase of his yatra.

Distinguishing his present journey from earlier ones he had undertaken, Mr. Advani said that in the earlier five, the guidance was given by his mentor Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but this time he had borne the load himself, adding he had however sought blessings from the former Prime Minister, a day prior to commencing the yatra.

The BJP leader said his decision to on the yatra was spontaneous, and came when two former BJP MPs were arrested in the cash-for-vote scam.

Asserting he had permitted them to go ahead with the plan to display the bribe money in Parliament, he said that he was shocked when they were arrested during the investigation.

He said the Delhi High Court’s decision to release all the arrested accused was a vindication of the purpose of his yatra.

Slamming the United Progressive Alliance government, he said it had signed a U.N. proposal to bring black black money from foreign countries but taken no action on it.

He said he had come to know that the French government has disclosed 700 names of those who had deposited black money in foreign banks but the government was not inclined to make them public.

Advani said the government of India has disclosed those names to the Supreme Court of India in a sealed envelope, but urged the names be made public.

“2010 and 2011 were years of corruptions and black money but 2012 will the year of accountability,” he said, saying the BJP would commit itself to removing corruption and bringing back black money to make a new India. (PTI IANS)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2643681.ece?homepage=true

AISSF chief among 3 held before Advani’s yatra

Chandigarh, Wednesday, 16 November 2011

All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) chief Karnail Singh Peermohammad was taken in preventive custody along with two of his associates today ahead of senior BJP leader L K Advani s arrival in the city for his Jan Chetna Yatra.

Mr Peermohammad and his associates Sandeep Singh and Anshdeep were detained near the Tribune Chowk here after the Crime Branch of the Chandigarh police reportedly received information that they were likely to show black flags to the veteran BJP leader and could hurl eggs at his rath, police sources said.

Police also seized two black flags from their possession and they were being interrogated. Mr Advani’s rath yatra had faced opposition from various quarters ever since it entered Punjab on November 13. The Jan Chetna Yatra was disrupted by the activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), headed by hardline Sikh leader Simranjit Singh Mann, at Sanghera village in Barnala district on November 13.

The SAD (Amritsar) activists showed black flags and hurled eggs on Mr Advani s rath as it entered the Barnala district. They also raised slogans in favour of Khalistan and against Mr Advani. Police later detained over 30 of them. Activists of a Muslim organisation also staged protest against the Jan Chetna Yatra near Sanghera village.

http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20111116/1873394.html

The Hindu – Anger at Advani in Golden Temple

For his comments in support of ‘Operation Blue Star’ in his book

Special Correspondent

Chandigarh, 16 November 2011. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani continued to face angry protests on the third day of his Jan Chetna Yatra in Punjab, when activists from different Akali factions and radical organisations raised slogans as he visited the holiest Sikh shrine, Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in Amritsar on Tuesday.

The heavy deployment of civilian clothes-clad security personnel within the “parkarma” (path for circumambulation) notwithstanding, protesters vented their anger against Mr. Advani, who was accompanied by his wife Kamala and daughter Pratibha, for his controversial comments in support of “Operation Blue Star” in his book,My Country My Life.

Slogans raised

Activists of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by their president Simranjit Singh Mann raised slogans against Mr. Advani and in favour of Khalistan at various places in parkarma, near the Akal Takht and outside the shrine complex.

Similarly, a group of workers led by the president of the Punjab unit of the Akali Dal (Delhi), Jaswinder Singh Baliawal, managed to sneak in and raise slogans against Mr. Advani, as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) officials presented him a ‘siropa’ (robes of religious honour) at a brief ceremony outside the Harmandar Sahib’s information office near the clock tower entry of the shrine.

‘Badal exposed’

Talking toThe Hindu, Mr. Baliawal said that his party was of the opinion that the ruling Akali Dal, of which Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was the patron, and the SGPC should not have welcomed Mr. Advani, who had pledged his support to the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, in carrying out “Operation Blue Star” that had wounded the Sikh community’s psyche. He said that by honouring Mr. Advani at the holiest shrine of the community, Mr. Badal had exposed his consent for the Army action of 1984.

According to reporters present on the occasion, Mr. Advani just folded his hands and refused to offer any comments to questions related to his support to the “Operation Blue Star.” On the other hand, the SGPC officials were tight-tipped on the issue of raising of slogans within the precincts of the shrine, despite heavy deployment of its security task force.

Good response

After paying obeisance at the Durgiana Mandir and homage to the martyrs at the Jallianwala Bagh, Mr. Advani proceeded to Batala en route Pathankot. At various rallies, especially in Batala town, Mr. Advani received enthusiastic response from the people. In his address, he targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance chairperson, Sonia Gandhi and the Congress leadership for the series of scandals, unprecedented inflation and lowering the prestige of the nation in the international comity.

Mr. Advani reiterated the resolve of the BJP and its alliance partners to force the government, during the forthcoming winter session of Parliament, to reveal the names of the corrupt leaders, who had stashed black money in Swiss banks.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2630664.ece

The Hindu – Advani criticises Mamata for not raising voice against corruption

Total amount of Indian wealth in foreign banks Rs. 25 lakh-crore’

Ananya Dutta

21 October 2011. Bharatiya Janata Party leader L. K. Advani on Thursday criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee here on Thursday for not speaking out against the unchecked corruption at the Centre.

When the Jan Chetna Yatra launched by him reached the city, he said, “I have known Mamata Banerjee for many years.

She speaks her mind freely and on occasion has even criticised us, if we were at fault. But I find that she has not said anything against the Central government with such high-level corruption,” Mr. Advani said about his former Cabinet colleague.

This is Mr. Advani’s first visit to West Bengal since the change of guard in the State government and he observed that “while there has been a change in government, there does not appear to have been any change in the situation.”

On the tenth day of his yatra, Mr. Advani said that he was overwhelmed by the response it had generated.

“The fundamental difference between this yatra and my previous five yatras is that on all those yatras I had the support of Atalji (former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee), but his time his ill-health prevented him from coming,” he said.

Insisting that the yatra was “not about changing the government” at the Centre, Mr. Advani said that a lot depended on the people of this country if corruption was to be checked and the black money stashed away in tax havens abroad was to be brought back to the country.

He said that according to some estimates, the total amount of Indian wealth in foreign banks estimated at Rs. 25 lakh crore.

“If a Rs. 1.76 lakh crore scam in the 2G Spectrum allocation, can generate such an upheaval, imagine what such a huge amount of money can achieve,” he said adding that in his opinion that the money recovered should not be spent on the urban areas, but used to usher development in the villages of India.

BJP national general secretaries Ravi Shankar Prasad and Kiran Maheshwariand party spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain were also present.

Mr.. Prasad said that he was very proud to be visiting the city after “the Allahabad High Court has accepted that Ayodhya is the birthplace of Ram Lalla.”

“Some people have taken the matter to the Supreme Court. We shall ensure that the remaining land be also awarded to us,” Mr. Prasad said referring to the three-way distribution of the disputed land, one part of which has been given to the Sunni Waqf Board.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2556371.ece

The Asian Age – Don’t use harsh words: PM to LK

Sanjay Basak On Board Air India One

20 October 2011. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while giving clear indications that the government was in sync with the public mood against corruption, sought to play down NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s attack on his government. At the same time, he asked senior BJP leader L.K. Advani not to use “harsh words” in politics.

Dr Singh also announced that a high-power team will be set up in a couple of days to look into the safeguards and apprehensions on the Koodankulam nuclear plant issue. The Prime Minister said Anna Hazare’s agitation has “served its purpose and the government is committed to come up with an effective Lokpal Bill”.

On the RTI controversy, the PM clarified that he has “never said that there should be any dilution”. He added: “All I had said was that we should reflect how to achieve in totality the purposes for which RTI has been set up. I have never said that we are going to change RTI.”

The PM indicated on the way back from Pretoria that resolving the Telangana crisis could “take time”. Claiming there had not been any “inaction” by the government on the issue, the Prime Minister said that “given the complications involved in settlement it will take some time”.

The Prime Minister said the government has been “engaged in wide-spread dialogue and discussions with all stake-holders” and that he hoped “to reach a win-win situation for all concerned through widespread dialogue and discussions”.

http://www.asianage.com/india/don-t-use-harsh-words-pm-lk-646