HEAD LINE:

• UPA gets a new ally, India its youngest CM: Omar Abdullah (IE)
• BJP plans to corner Omar on Amarnath row (IE)
• Cong should have consulted us: Sayeed (IE)

LEAD:

It is a generational shift to provide stable governance to a state that went through turmoil before elections. Former Union Minister Omar Abdullah will lead the National Conference-Congress coalition in J&K, with the two parties coming together after more than two decades. The Congress will be part of the govt. "We have an equal stake in the improvement of the lot of people in the state," said Abdullah after a 30-minute interaction with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Jan path, residence. As the Congress will participate in the govt, the deputy chief minister will be from its ranks. The nominee, from Jammu region, will lend regional balance to the team led by Abdullah, who represents Ganderbal in the Valley. Among the contenders for the post are former Assembly Speaker Tara Chand, a Dalit, and two-term MLA Sham Lal Sharma who won from Akhnoor by notching up the largest victory margin in the assembly polls after former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. Although no Kashmiri Pandit won in the assembly polls, the community would find a place in the cabinet, as well as in the Upper House, to strike a social balance. (HT)

• NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday rejected claims made by Pakistan earlier in the day that India had moved its troops closer to the border and activated the forward air bases. Instead, Pakistan would do well to honour the commitments made by its then and present head of state in 2004 and again this year, he said. In an interaction with newspersons, Mr. Mukherjee made it clear that no provocative action was taken by the Indian armed forces and any movement on the ground was part of the Army's normal schedule of exercises and repositioning in the winters. "We have not created any tension. First, there should be escalation from our side, and then the question of de-escalation will come. We have not escalated anything," he said. "There is no need for creating an atmosphere of some sort of hysteria," Mr. Mukherjee said. He pointed out there was no such attempt from the Indian side as was borne out by the fact that New Delhi was releasing several Pakistanis detained for visa violation. Also, it would go ahead with the routine renewal of nuclear-related confidence building measures on January 1. (HINDU)
• The BJP has called upon PM Manmohan Singh saying "control and tame your party leaders" in the light of what it has said are irresponsible statements being made by some ministers and a senior Congress leader. Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and two ministers of state for home, Sriprakash Jaiswal and Shakeel Ahmed, of making "meaningless and untenable statements" claiming that the Mumbai terrorists had made some demands but the govt had refused to negotiate with them.(AA)
• With the Awami League back in power in Bangladesh, the Assam govt plans to ask the Centre to mount a fresh diplomatic push to get Bangladesh to deport top Ulfa leader Anup Chetia, now in a Dhaka jail. Security sources said this would be an acid test for the new govt, which is expected to have a much friendlier relationship with New Delhi.(AA)

MANMOHAN SINGH & GOVT

PM Manmohan Singh called up Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday to congratulate her. "I look forward to working with you for mutual benefit... The successful conduct of free, fair and peaceful elections is a reflection of the desire of the people of Bangladesh for democracy, development and progress. I am confident that under your leadership, Bangladesh will attain even greater heights," he told her. Assuring New Delhi's wish to strengthen and deepen relations with Bangladesh, Singh said, "I am asking my senior colleague, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to visit Bangladesh as soon as possible to personally convey our good wishes." "The historic victory of the Awami League... is a major landmark in democratic politics in South Asia. The large turnout of voters is a resounding victory for democracy," said the MEA statement. (IE)

BJP

The BJP will take the Govt led by Omar Abdullah to task on the issue of Amarnath agitation and the discrimination meted out to Jammu. The party will decide on the line of action to be taken in the new Assembly at a meeting of all its 11 legislators. The party is depending on old stalwarts, including former MoS for Defence Chaman Lal Gupta, and new faces like Prof Gharu Ram, Sukh Nandan Kumar and Bharat Bhushan Bodhi to corner the Govt. Besides demanding that the Govt shouldn't interfere in the functioning of the Amarnath Shrine Board, the BJP will target the Govt on the issue of Jammu being discriminated in the representation of Assembly seats. "Delimitation is our main demand. There are Assembly seats in Kashmir which are spread over a population of 60,000 while in Jammu, on average, an Assembly seat is spread over a population of 80,000. Jammu region has always faced discrimination. (IE)

• Bangalore/New Delhi: After a good showing in Jammu, there was some year-end cheer for BJP as it consolidated its majority in Karnataka by winning five of eight assembly seats while Congress failed to trouble the scorers and H D Deve Gowda's JD(S) stayed afloat after bagging three constituencies. The eight by-polls, caused largely due to BJP's strategy of getting rival legislators to resign and join the party, saw voters endorse "operation lotus" as the defection game was codenamed. The BJP now does not need the support of six independents it has enjoyed as it has a strength of 115 in a House of 226. The independents though will remain a handy buffer. Elated by BJP's performance, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa reiterated his 3D mantra: 'Development, development, development' and said, "The verdict means a lot to our govt. We can now breathe easy and work more actively by concentrating on development issues." BJP leaders feel the results are a good portent for Lok Sabha polls with former minister Ananth Kumar saying, "What is heartening is that we have won from different regions, won with good margins. Congress is in decline, its policies have been rejected, it is a house divided." (TOI)
• Five days after a huge sum of money, said to be Rs 2.6 crore, went missing for its headquarters, the BJP sought to play down the incident that could intensify the ongoing tussle between two factions for the control of election funds. The BJP leadership on Tuesday asked treasurer Ramdas Aggarwal to carry out "a reconciliation of all accounts" to verify if there was a theft. As the party saw it as an "insider's job" and result of a factional fight, accountant Nalin Tandon, an RSS man, was asked to hand over charge to another person even as spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad described media re- ports as "exaggerated". He said Aggarwal, a Member of Parliament, would also tally accounts with the details of expenditure incurred during the recent assembly polls. "We're checking receipts and payments. Until that is completed, I can't say whether any sum has gone missing," Aggarwal said. The money was part of the contributions made by the state units and went missing either on way or after reaching the of fice, a party official said. (HT)

STATES

ANDHRA PRADESH

Revenue Minister D. Prasada Rao has justified allotment of land at Bhimraobada in the city to AP Congress Committee for a new building to house its State headquarters near Gandhi Bhavan, on the ground that political parties had now turned into a grievance-settlement mechanism for public and, therefore, should be equipped with all facilities. Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said it was because of this reason that every citizen should ensure that the system of political parties survived and thrived. Amidst the din caused by the Opposition against the eviction of families at Bhimaraobada, he said that permanent houses were kept ready for the displaced persons at Afzalsagar. He said the eviction became an issue as the families were most unwilling to leave the site located in the heart of the city. The govt was well within its powers when it cancelled title-deeds issued to the Bhimaraobada families to allot the land for a public purpose. "Is not allotment of land to a political party (Congress) for public purpose ?, he asked.(HINDU)

HARYANA

In a statement that has stunned his party colleagues, Haryana Finance Minister Birender Singh on Tuesday called for a referendum on the performance of the Congress in the state. Birender Singh made the suggestion during a meeting of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) and district Congress presidents, in the presence of AICC treasurer and Haryana affairs in-charge Moti Lal Vora. Mincing no words, Birender Singh said a referendum on the party's performance was necessary before the Lok Sabha polls to "know people's views on the Govt". Though he may have said it in view of the impending Lok Sabha polls, the statement had some Congressmen wondering if this was an indirect attack on CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda's leadership. Even before all those present in the meeting could recover from the suggestion for a referendum, Birender Singh threw another bombshell, when he said at least two-three sitting Congress MPs and 25 to 30 sitting MLAs should not be given tickets for the next Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. He did not indicate any names though. (IE)

J&K

It is a truism that all three regions of J&K, Kashmir and Ladakh feel 'alienated'. While Jammu and Ladakh feel alienated from Kashmir, Kashmir feels alienated from the rest of India. Rightly or wrongly, as PDP president Mehbooba Mufti articulated most recently, Kashmir considers itself 'special' because of its location, its demographic composition, the circumstances in which it joined the Indian union. "Kashmir is not like any other Indian state," Mehbooba clearly stated. Kashmir's alienation prompts its separatists to campaign for azadi (freedom) from India. "It is often said that Kashmir's problems stem from neglect and lack of development," said Noorul-Qamrain, editor of the local daily Muslim Kashmir. "That is simply not correct. Kashmir's alienation is because the Kash- mir issue remains unresolved." The highhandedness of the Centre while dealing with Kash- mir has aggravated the feeling. "The Centre dictates Kashmir related policies without taking local sentiment into account," said Amitabh Mattoo, vice-chan cellor of Jammu University and Kashmir expert. (HT)

MAHARASHTRA

Despite TV channels airing visuals of alleged MNS workers assaulting north Indian candidates appearing for Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) Examination in Mumbai, police have told the State Human Rights Commission that there was "no case of physical assault or injury to any of the candidates". "It is not correct to say Mumbai was burning after the assault on candidates appearing for the RRB exam. In fact, there is no case of physical assault or injury to any of the candidates," K L Prasad, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), said in a written reply to the Commission. Prasad's reply was in response to a complaint to the Commission by Farooq Ghosi, Mumbai unit president of Samajwadi Party's youth wing. On October 19, MNS workers had attacked the RRB exam centres in suburban Mumbai and chased away the north Indian candidates. Prasad's reply pointed out that MNS workers barged into the examination centre at Kharwadi in Bandra and threatened the candidates and tore the exam papers. (IE)

UTTAR PRADESH

An office-bearer of the state BJP youth wing allegedly attacked an executive engineer of Irrigation Department following a dispute over payment in a contract in Basti district on Monday night. An FIR was lodged in the matter but the accused was yet to be arrested. "The engineer, Hari Narayan Singh, has told the police that the accused, Bhanu Prakash Mishra, was forcing him to release payment related to a work in the flood division of the department," said Basti ASP Ajay Shanker Rai. Rai said Mishra's Scorpio vehicle had been attached with the same division at Basti for the past over one year and the department was yet to clear the dues for its use. The engineer alleged in the FIR that Mishra arrived at his house and assaulted his domestic help when he did not allow him to enter the house. When Singh came out, Mishra threatened the engineer to pay Rs 2 lakh which was pending against his work in the department.(IE)

EDITORIAL

Dhaka, A New Year: With Sheikh Hasina's Awami League-led coalition winning more than three quarters of the total seats in the parliamentary polls, Bangladesh has reason enough to celebrate not just its return to democracy but also the victory of the alliance with the more forward-looking agenda. As we hope the ninth parliament will mark a break with Bangladesh's traditionally corruption-ridden, factious politics, India also appears to have reason enough to feel relieved. Hasina's 1996-2001 tenure saw the best bilateral relations with India. And to the extent that history provides a key to what lies ahead, Indian hopes may not be altogether belied this time round either.(IE)