HEAD LINE:

• Admit error in not bringing tougher laws earlier: Advani to Govt (IE)
• Salwa Judum: don't approve of non-state actors, says Govt (IE)

LEAD:

Arming the law enforcement agencies with new anti-terror measures, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed two Bills the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2008 and the other one to set up a National Investigation Agency. Replying to a six-hour debate, which at times turned into bitter criticism of the govt, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said a meeting of CMs would be convened here on January 6, 2009 to hold further discussions on the steps to be taken to tackle terrorism. He had already written to the CMs. "Laws are not the only steps we are taking, the PM has asked me to convene a meeting of all the CMs." Asserting that the country could not afford to lower the guard in matters of security, Mr. Chidambaram said eternal vigilance had to be maintained to ensure peace and security. An amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill, moved by Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M), did not succeed. (HINDU)

• New Delhi: Three months after the Delhi blasts, the police disclosed on Wednesday they could have averted the terror strike had they been able to decode the phone conversations they had intercepted between Indian Mujahideen militants. In the first chargesheet filed in connection with the September 13 blasts, cops admitted that in the run-up to the strikes ''the relevance of those conversations could not be understood.''This was a crucial lapse as the mobile phone under interception (9811004309) was that of Mohammad Atif Ameen, leader of the IM module that executed the blasts. Atif 's number came to the police's notice because of the investigation into the east Delhi cybercafe from where emails had been sent in connection with the 2007 serial blasts in UP courts. The police happened to intercept his mobile from September 2 to 19, 2008. According to the chargesheet, it was only after the fateful day that ''these calls were again analysed. From a few of these conversations it was being indicated that there was some conspiracy/planning going on relating to the Delhi blasts.'' (TOI)
• New Delhi: Minority affairs minister A R Antulay on Wednesday set off a major political row by demanding a probe into the shooting of Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare in the 26/11 terror strikes which he linked to investigations of alleged involvement of Hindu radicals in the Malegaon blasts. Stating that the circumstances of Karkare's shooting ''may be inquired into'', Antulay seemed to have borrowed a leaf from Pakistani TV hosts who have claimed that the Mumbai attacks were the handiwork of ''Hindu Zionists''. Antulay told the media outside Parliament that ''there must have been some reason why Karkare went to Cama Hospital instead of Taj and Oberoi hotels.'' Antulay said ''someone'' could have told Karkare and other officers to go to Cama Hospital, suggesting that the ATS chief fell victim to a set-up. Implicit in this was the insinuation that senior officers may have been involved in the "conspiracy". (TOI)
• New Delhi: Minority affairs minister A R Antulay's demand for a probe into the shooting of Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare, which was immediately televised, triggered an uproar in Lok Sabha. BJP and Shiv Sena MPs vehemently criticized the minister who insisted that directions issued to Karkare must be probed, implying that senior officers were involved in the "conspiracy". A red-faced Congress swiftly dissociated itself from the minister with party spokesperson Abhisekh Singhvi saying, ''We don't accept the inference and the innuendo that underline the statement (of Antulay)...we don't agree with bringing this case (Karkare's killing) under a cloud.'' But Antulay was unfazed, virtually daring the Congress to sack him and offering to ''explain'' the geography of south Mumbai to his party. He got support from the RJD with party leader Devendra Yadav expressing suspicion of involvement of Hindu radicals in Karkare's killing. As his boss Lalu Prasad looked on approvingly, he said, ''Two days before Karkare was killed, who had given a call for Maharashtra bandh?'' BJP condemned Antulay's statement and said the minister was as good as playing ISI's attorney and demanded his sacking. Arun Jaitley said Pakistan could now quote Antulay to contest the account of the lone surviving Mumbai terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab. ''Having made such a preposterous statement, Antulay cannot be allowed to remain in govt even for a day,'' he said. (TOI)
• New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has taken exception to a demand by Left parties for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into an alleged scam involving Spectrum allocation to Telecom operators and has warned of disciplinary action against MPs who have criticised a Lok Sabha committee's report on cash-for-votes scam. "On the one hand, you are demanding a probe by a parliamentary committee and on the other, MPs are criticising and castigating another committee's report. Action is going to be taken. The way they are treating the report and criticising it, I will not allow this to happen....You are deliberately denigrating this institution," Chatterjee said on Wednesday in reference to criticisms of the recommendations of the committee which looked into the cash-for-votes scam. (IE)
• New Delhi: Last week, while reporting Sheila Dikshit's stunning electoral hattrick, TOI had published on its front page a 10-point charter for her things that need priority attention in Delhi. One of them was for making the city more secure, another for lowering pollution, and yet another for re-thinking BRT. On the BRT, this newspaper has been consistent it has maintained that a good project has been awfully executed, resulting in traffic chaos in this stretch. It reiterated this in the charter only to make the point that her victory should not be used by bureaucrats and BRT ''experts'' to claim that Delhi has now approved the project. The voter might have approved several things about the Dikshit govt, but not this project. It remained a problem that needed to be fixed. Now, the Standing Committee in Parliament has said exactly the same. In its report, the committee has said that unless the ''negative impact'' of the BRT corridor is recognised and if five more BRTs are built, as planned, ''the residents of Delhi would face the same music and it would be a nightmare for them.'' (TOI)
• New Delhi: In a striking reversal of the stance taken by the Govt before the Supreme Court over the anti-Naxalite Salwa Judum movement in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha the Centre does not approve of "non-state" actors taking on the job of law enforcement. When the CPI's D Raja asked if the Centre would consider asking the Chhattisgarh Govt to disband the Salwa Judum in the face of alleged human rights violations, Chidambaram replied, "Law and order and law enforcement is the responsibility of the state govt... we do not approve of non-state actors taking over the responsibility". Ironically, the Centre, in response to batch of PILs in the apex court on the issue of human rights violation in the name of Salwa Judum, had stated that the Chhattisgarh govt should arm civilians and let them serve as special police officers (SPOs) in accordance with the statute to run relief camps for Naxalite-affected tribals. (IE)
• New Delhi: The newly formed National Dalit Front (NDF) headed by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and aimed primarily to check the rise of BSP supremo Mayawati held its first convention on Wednesday with a call to Dalits to unite for their rights. Three Dalit leaders LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, RPI leader and MP Ramdas Athawale and Indian Justice Party chief Udit Raj have come together to form the NDF. Though the leaders have stressed that the organisation was apolitical and aimed at uniting Dalit outfits scattered across the country under one umbrella, it is being widely believed that the threat from Mayawati has brought these leaders together. The Mayawati factor was quite clear at the meeting with every speaker underlining that the BSP had gone astray and was serving the cause of "Manuwadis". In his speech, Paswan referred to the change of slogan of the BSP from Ambedkar's bahujan (majority) to sarvjan (everybody). "Ambedkar had said bahujan to mean the suppressed majority and Mayawati has made it sarvjan which includes even Tata, Birla and Ambanis," Paswan remarked and urged Dalits not to fall in the trap. Athawale too said Mayawati had dumped the Dalits and embraced the Brahmins. (IE)

CONGRESS

Trying to get at the subtle nuances of international diplomacy, especially in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had a meeting with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee. According to the Congress sources, although Mr. Mukherjee did not give details of the meeting, he referred to it as a "brief chat". The meeting took place in the Parliament House office of the minister and lasted for around 45 minutes.(AA)

STATES

ANDHRA PRADESH

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has claimed that the Congress will wrest the Kuppam Assembly seat in Chittoor district represented by Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Babu. Dr. Reddy is said to have made this assertion at a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday after Minister for Medical Education Galla Aruna referred to the observations of some intellectuals that the Congress was poised to come back to power. The CM said there was no anti-establishment mood. The party was comfortably placed in districts such as Karimnagar and Nalgonda. It was sure to win even in Kuppam as the situation was changing fast. Advising Ministers to gear up for the general elections in April, he informed them that a vote-on-account for 2008-09 would be presented in the Assembly in the first week of February so that the party could get into election mode. When a Minister expressed concern over the impact made by the Praja Rajyam, Dr. Reddy is believed to have pointed out that there was minimal impact of the new party in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. (HINDU)

• HYDERABAD: The BJP has decided to shortly release a charge-sheet outlining the failures of the State govt on various counts. The party would launch the second phase of the Dharam Yudh against the "inefficient and corrupt" govt headed by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy after Pongal. The party's youth wing, Bharat Janata Yuva Morcha, would organise Assembly constituency wise "nava yuva sammelans" throughout January to educate youth newly enrolled into electoral rolls about the failures of the govt.(HINDU)

J&K

The sixth and penultimate phase of the long-running elections in J&K saw people's appetite for democracy yet again. Kashmiris, young and old, men and women, lined up in front of booths completely oblivious of the calls for poll boycott by militants. And to even suggest that they could have been affected by the cold weather would be such an inapt observation, for, at the end of the day, according to poll officers, around 60% Kashmiris had cast their votes against 65%, 67%, 62%, 55% and 57% polling in the first five rounds. Polling in Mufti's turf of Bijbehara was brisk since morning despite icy winds sweeping the area following heavy snowfall in nearby Pir Panjal. Saja Begum (27), who was among the early morning voters, had walked miles to vote ''for a good candidate and better tomorrow''. ''Everybody in my family voted for peace, better civic facilities like better roads and clean drinking water,'' she said. Amid high turnout in Kulgam, where CPM state secretary M Y Tarigami is seeking a third straight mandate, there were voices of dissent, too. Mohammad Abbas Malik, who heeded the boycott call, said his conscience didn't allow him to vote ''in the backdrop of the recent killings''. PM Manmohan Singh's rally in Shangus on Sunday seemed to have an impact, as the area recorded a turnout of 66%. (TOI)

KARNATAKA

The Muslim religious body, Majlise- Islah wa Tanzeem, Bhatkal, submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner of Uttara Kannada at Karwar on Wednesday. The memorandum alleged that the Bajrang Dal and other outfits of the Sangh parivar were targeting the Muslims in Bhatkal. Narrating the sequence of Tuesday's clash between a group of Muslim and Hindu youth, the religious body alleged that the Hindu organisations were running a parallel police in the district. According to the memorandum, some Muslim youth had gone to Netrani Island for a picnic and they lit a campfire. Suddenly the police appeared on the island and arrested all the picnickers and took them by speedboat to Murudeshwar. When the boat reached Murudeshwar, Hindu activists who were hiding in fishing boats parked nearby, attacked the Muslim youth with iron rods. Three were seriously injured and were shifted to Mangalore for treatment, the religious body alleged. It said that the media had reported the incident in favour of the Sangh parivar and that the attackers had lodged a complaint with the police saying that the Muslims had threatened them. The Deputy Commissioner assured the Tanzeem members that action would be taken after the investigation.(HINDU)

KERALA

The CPI(M) suffered a huge setback in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) stronghold of Shoranur when results of the by-elections to the municipal council from nine wards were declared on Wednesday. The CPI(M), which is in power at present in the municipality, was defeated in eight of the nine wards. The eight seats were captured by those who fought the election under the banner of the Janakeeya Vikasana Samithi, while the CPI(M) could win only one. This could lead to a non-LDF council in Shoranur where the LDF had ruled for 28 years, ever since the municipality was formed. Incidents of sporadic violence and throwing of stones were reported from some areas. The CPI(M) has called for a 12-hour hartal in the municipality on Thursday. In the 30-member Shoranur municipality, the CPI(M) has 14 councillors, Janakeeya Vikasana Samithi - 8, Congress -7 and the BJP - 1. The Congress, which did not field any candidate, had offered unconditional support to the samithi. The counting of ballots started at 8 a.m. at the municipal hall and the results were declared by 1.30 p.m.(HINDU)

MAHARASHRA

Maharashtra home minister Jayant Patil announced in the Assembly on Wednesday that a special court would be set up to try terrorist Ajmal Kasab. Mr. Patil said the decision was taken to expedite Kasab's trial. "The govt has decided to take strict action so that people like Kasab think twice about committing such heinous crimes," Mr. Patil said in a House debate on the Mumbai terror attacks. Mr. Patil added the police would file a chargesheet within 60 days. The Opposition parties, meanwhile, are demanding the resignation of DGP A.N. Roy and Mumbai police commissioner Hassan Gafoor for their alleged failure in handling the terror attacks. Opposition leader Ramdas Kadam threatened that Assembly proceedings would be disrupted.(AA)

RAJASTHAN

The BJP is likely to have a difficult time choosing candidates in Rajasthan for the next Lok Sabha election as four of the five sitting MPs the party had fielded lost the current Assembly elections. The lone winning MP of the party is Kiran Maheshwari, the party's national president of Mahila Morcha who managed to win with a margin of 4,174 votes in Rajsamand seat. Those who lost the elections this time include Raghuveer Singh Kaushal, former State president of the BJP and MP from Kota. Mr. Kaushal, who was said to be a reluctant candidate in the first place, lost by a huge margin of 29,668 votes to his Congress rival, Pramod Kumar Baya in Anta. If it is of any consolation Anta does not fall in Kota Lok Sabha constituency but forms part of the eight Assembly seats under Jhalawar-Baran Lok Sabha seat from where former CM Vasundhara Raje's son Dushyant Singh is the sitting MP.(HINDU)

UTTAR PRADESH

Buoyed by the recent successes in the Assembly elections, the Congress' first family is set to blow the Lok Sabha poll bugle, as the mother and son are scheduled to address a joint rally on the border of Amethi-Rae Bareli on December 21. To prepare grounds for the mammoth rally in the adjoining area of the two constituency, Nehru-Gandhi family scion and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi will leave for Amethi on Thursday and later Congress president Sonia Gandhi will join him, sources in the party said. The Congress leaders' visit to their respective constituencies in Uttar Pradesh is the first after the land controversy, which was created after UP chief minister Mayawati first cancelled the land allocation for the proposed rail coach factory in Rai Bareli and then, after a while, approved it. "The issue is certainly going to be raised by our leaders to show how the state govt is obstructing development initiatives of the Centre," the sources confirmed, adding that the leaders would also set the agenda for the Congress on which the party will fight the Lok Sabha elections scheduled early in 2009.(AA)

EDITORIAL

Terror laws: Some questions remain: The UPA govt, which would like to appear to be on the ball in fighting terrorism after the Mumbai outrage, has introduced two bills in Parliament. One aims to establish a National Investigating Agency (NIA) to deal with terrorism and related offences, the other to tighten procedures to aid prosecution and trial by amending the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. In seeking to create the NIA, the govt is in uncharted waters. News reports suggest that the NIA cannot begin investigating a case on its own. It appears that the first step is to be taken by the state govt where a terrorist crime may have occurred. The state in question will have to ask the Centre for the NIA to be pressed into service. It is far from clear if states will approach the Centre for the NIA's help in the first place. State govts are known to guard their turf jealously. Since law and order is a state subject, they have thwarted efforts in the past, irrespective of their political colour, to create an all-India agency to deal with terrorism. The federalism argument is used to stymie moves in this direction. The Left parties reiterated this view in Parliament on Monday when the bill was introduced. The BJP supported the bill since it has long been asking for so-called "tough laws" against terrorism, but we can only know later if its CMs will ask for the Centre's help in investigating terrorist crimes, especially if the BJP is not running the Union govt.(AA)