HEAD LINE:

• Azhar joins Cong team, says just a player (TOI)

LEAD:

New Delhi: In what would be music to the UPA govt's ears just ahead of a close electoral race, the two stimulus packages it has devised seem to have begun to show results with an upturn in key sectors like steel, cement, autos, food and beverages and railway freight. Cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar told TOI in an interview that strong rural demand seemed to be shoring up the economy. "I think we are seeing the first clear signs of a turnaround. The spending on flagship and infrastructure programmes and steady hikes in MSPs for wheat and rice seem to have kept the economy afloat, driving demand," he said. The data now flowing in is easing some of the worry lines in govt as the negative trends are not only levelling out, but the graph has begun to inch upwards again. Though these are early days, govt hopes that with adequate follow-up, particularly with states that are key to the revival recipe, the trends will hold and strengthen. (TOI)

• New Delhi: One of the most successful cricket captains, Mohammed Azharuddin on Thursday donned a new cap by formally joining Congress amidst clear indication that he would contest the Lok Sabha elections on the party's ticket. Sporting a tricolour .angavastram' over his light brown suit, Azhar made it clear that he was willing to join the fray. "I am no longer the captain, only a player whatever the party decides I accept. I have no choice," he said replying to a question. Tracing his links with Congress, the former cricketer said he had been a "big fan" of Rajiv Gandhi. Recalling his world record of three consecutive centuries on debut, he said: "The first congratulatory message came from (former) PM Rajiv Gandhi." Explaining his entry into politics, Azhar said: "I always saw myself as a child of destiny destiny has beckoned me here." With a touch of humility, the Hyderabadi said he had never imagined that one day he would meet the media at the Congress headquarters. He, however, was confident that he had many more milestones to cross. "I have got many laurels, now I want to give something back to the nation," he said. (TOI)
• New Delhi: The National Conference and Congress are expected to seal a seatsharing pact soon by dividing the six Lok Sabha seats in the state equally between them but there are some rough edges that need to be sorted out as NC is looking to stake its claim on Ladakh. The Ladakh seat is held by Thupstan Chhewang who had supported Congress but the MP suffered a setback in the assembly elections where he contested and lost the Leh seat. On the other hand, NC picked up two seats, Kargil and Zanskar, with both constituencies having a sizable Muslim population. As far as the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat is concerned, the Buddhist-Muslim populations are close to the same in terms of percentages and NC feels it is in with a chance. The party is understood to be keen to swap Anantnag, where it is in a weak position, for Ladakh. Congress would resist this as it is likely to roll out its old warhorse P Namgyal for the elections. NC is clearly arguing that its claims should be considered as Congress has won one assembly seat the fourth going to a Ladakh hill council candidate while also pointing out that it is no longer necessary to field a Buddhist. (TOI)
• New Delhi: As the Govt widens the mandate of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday made it clear that the security cover to private and joint sector companies would not come at the cost of guarding public sector enterprises and Govt establishment, which would continue to get the first priority. "The CISF, of course, will continue to provide security to the public sector establishments. There will be no question of reducing the CISF cover to the public sector. The first claim to the CISF will be of the Govt and the public sector," he told the Rajya Sabha while moving the CISF (Amendment) Bill 2008. Chidambaram said the CISF security cover would not be extended to the private sector overnight as the force had to be expanded first. The strength of the force would be expanded to 1,45,000 from the present level of 1,12,534, he added. The service will be provided to the private sector once the Govt carries out a risk analysis, the Minister said adding that preference would be given to places vulnerable to Naxal and Terror attacks. (IE)
• NEW DELHI: Though the country is yet to fully feel the impact of the global slowdown and recession, the govt will take more steps in the coming weeks to boost the economy. However, it will not go slow on talks on trade agreements with various countries. This was stated by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who also holds charge of Finance, while replying to supplement Aries during question hour in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Mr. Mukherjee said that besides taking measures to boost the economy, the govt would provide necessary support to industry. "I will be in a better position to share some more detailed information during my reply to the debate on the interim budget next week." The Minister pointed out that constitutional constraints prevented him from announcing radical measures to deal with the emerging economic situation. "I have constitutional constraints to take too many measures involving too many resources, as the mandate of the govt is coming to an end and a new govt will be taking over after elections," he said. (HINDU)
• New Delhi: After BSP MPs created a ruckus in the Lok Sabha and forced an adjournment, Union Minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters that all the .objectionable portions' of The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Reservation in Jobs and Posts) Bill 2008, including exemption of reservation in the teaching faculty of govt-owned institutes of higher education, will be amended and brought in the Lok Sabha during the current session. "Objectionable clauses including the one that said there will be no reservation in the teaching faculty of 47 scheduled universities have been amended. The Bill with amendments ensuring provision for reservation for the SCs and STs even in the teaching faculty of Central institutes would be brought in the Lok Sabha during the current session itself," Paswan declared and added that the Bill with amendments will be reverted to the Rajya Sabha. Interestingly, the original Bill with controversial portions had been passed by the Rajya Sabha during the last session of Parliament. (IE)
• It was an anguished Somnath Chatterjee, the Lok Sabha Speaker, who told MPs in the House on Thursday, "You do not deserve one paisa of the public money," as they continued to raise a din in the House despite his entreaties that order be restored. The uproar had begun soon after the House convened at 11 am to take up the Question Hour. But that was not to be as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and BJP MPs walked into the well of the House raising slogans against the govt for being anti-dalit. The BSP was registering its protest against what they said was the govt ignoring the backward classes in a draft legislation regarding universities which it has introduced in the Lok Sabha. As the PMK and MDMK MPs too walked into the well of the House on the Sri Lankan issue and Telegu Desam Party (TDP) MPs trooped into the well on the Satyam issue, an angered Speaker was heard saying, "I think Parliament should be adjourned sine die... public money should not be spent on useless allowances for you."(AA)

BJP

BJP chief Rajnath Singh today indicated his discomfort with the idea of Narendra Modi as PM. When asked about surveys that claimed the Gujarat CM was the most popular leader in the BJP, Rajnath said: "According to a nationwide survey he may have been the most popular leader of the party. But remember, the survey was done in 2004. And our party lost in those elections and we were unable to form the govt. I am not in a position to say anything more." Asked if he would like to be the NDA's prime ministerial candidate, Rajnath said, "Ram Ram". LK Advani, he said, was the BJP's unanimous choice to be leader of the party and the alliance.(IE)

CONGRESS

Congress president Sonia Gandhi constituted her election team on Thursday night. While former Jammu and Kashmir CM Ghulam Nabi Azad is back in the AICC as a general secretary in charge of three key states, Karnataka CLP leader Mallikarjun Kharge has been nominated to the CWC and former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh is now a permanent invitee to the CWC. Mrs Gandhi realloted states to the new team. While Mr Azad has been put in charge of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Puducherry, Mr K. Keshav Rao, the new face from Andhra Pradesh, has been given Jharkhand, West Bengal and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Mr B.K. Hari Prasad will now handle Madhya Pradesh besides Gujarat, Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli while Mr Prithviraj Chavan will look after Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Defence minister A.K. Antony will continue to handle Maharashtra and Mr M. Veerappa Moily Andhra Pradesh, Assam, DEPCO and the party media department. Mr Luizinho Falerio, another new face in the setup, will look after Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim. The Congress chief made no changes in the allocation of states to Mr Digvijay Singh (Uttar Pradesh). Ms Mohsina Kidwai will handle Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and the Mahila Congress. Mr Mukul Wasnik is to look after Delhi, Rajasthan and the Seva Dal while Mr Iqbal Singh gets Bihar. Mr V. Narayansamy has been put in charge of Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura and Mr R.K. Dhawan of Uttarkahand. Mr Motilal Vora remains AICC treasurer while Mr Rahul Gandhi stays in charge of the Youth Congress and NSUI. Mr Janardan Dwivedi was given organisation, organisational elections, training and programme coordination while Mr Oscar Fernandes is in charge of AICC meetings and sessions, CEC and CWC, and Mr Satyavrat Chaturvedi of AICC departments and cells. Mrs Gandhi nominated 22 members, 17 permanent invitees and four special invitees to the CWC.(AA)

STATES

J&K

With Congress president expected to reorganise the party office-bearers ahead of elections, former J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad is expected to be inducted as general secretary. The former CM is understood to have made it clear that he is not keen to stand for election from the Doda-Udhampur constituency in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections where a Congress-National Conference alliance is expected to split the six seats in the states in a seat-sharing agreement. Sources said Azad's preferences have been kept in mind with the leader being given a Rajya Sabha seat and with his seniority ruling out an active role in the state, his vast experience as an organisation man would now be put to use. As it is, there are some general secretaries who are handling as many as six states with the exit of Margaret Alva from the office bearers having increased the load. The entry of someone like Azad would prove handy, even as he continues to have a say in J&K matters. In J&K, Congress is expected to contest two Jammu seats but NC is keen on contesting Ladakh where it won two of four assembly seats. The changing demographics have seen Kargil and Zanskar elect NC candidates but Congress is expected to resist the move. (TOI)

MAHARSHTRA

Former Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, whose suspension from the Congress was revoked recently, was on Thursday inducted into the two-month-old Ashok Chavan led Congress-NCP Govt. Rane and two others, both from the Congress, were sworn in by Governor S C Jamir at Raj Bhawan. Others who took oath were Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Naseem Khan. While Rane and Vikhe-Patil were sworn in as Cabinet ministers, Khan took oath as minister of state. CM Ashok Chavan, Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal, MPCC president Manikrao Thakre and several other ministers attended the swearing-in ceremony. There was speculation that the fourth vacant spot in the ministry would also be filled up but there was no unanimity over the candidate, Congress sources said. (IE)

PUDUCHERRY

The Election Department has convened a meeting of booth-level officers and agents appointed by political parties on February 23. The meeting will be held at the respective polling stations, a release from Joint Electoral Officer P.T. Rudra Goud said. Voters' list of the polling station concerned would be kept for inspection by block-level agents. Though the agents would not receive claims and objections from public, they would guide the people on filing applications for inclusion, deletions, corrections and transposition of entries in the voters' list, he said. People had been advised to make use of the opportunity to make an error free voters' list by visiting the polling station on the day of the meeting. Voter identity cards issued earlier were valid though there were changes in the Assembly constituencies as per the delimitation exercise. Hence, there was no need to obtain fresh identity cards, he said. (HINDU)

TAMIL NADU

With just a couple of months left for Lok Sabha elections, AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa on Thursday stunned her political allies and foes alike by going all out to woo her erstwhile ally Congress by recalling her association with Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and advising the party to sever its ties with DMK. DMK was sinking into quicksand and if Congress sought to lend it a helping hand, it would also go down with it, she said. "We are winning, and any party that is with us will profit; others will lose," she said in an apparent invitation to Congress to join her party-led alliance. Congress rebuffed her and asserted that it had a "strong alliance" with DMK. Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily told reporters in New Delhi, "We already have a strong alliance with DMK... We have not received any proposal for an alliance from AIADMK." Jayalalithaa's sudden overture to Congress is likely to make Left parties squirm as top leaders of both CPI and CPM personally called on her and clinched a pact with her party for the Lok Sabha polls. In a strong reaction, CPM state secretary N Varadarajan said Jayalalithaa's remarks would not help the alliance in any way. "We don't know the intentions behind the comments, but we've informed our national leaders about it. State leaders of our party will discuss the matter on Friday morning and take a decision," he said, adding CPM had always been clear that it would be a part of only a non-BJP and non-Congress alliance.(TOI)

• Chennai: The Madras High Court turned into a battlefield today when agitating lawyers and the police clashed, leaving scores injured, among them a senior judge, lawyers, journalists, policemen and onlookers. Protestors set ablaze the B-4 police station on the High Court campus and damaged parked vehicles, prompting the state Govt to order a CBI probe. Trouble erupted when police tried to arrest 15 lawyers who had allegedly attacked Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy inside a court room on Tuesday, protesting his anti-LTTE stance. When the police insisted on arresting some women lawyers, there was a heated exchange of words with the lawyers demanding that Swamy be arrested first. Someone hurled a stone at the policemen who responded with a lathicharge. Among the injured was Justice AC Arumuga Perumal Adityan.(IE)