Mayawati pull-out threat recedes

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday showed signs of mellowing down from her recent threats to withdraw support from the Congress-led UPA government.
Emerging from an hour-long meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she hinted that her party, the BSP, was not going to withdraw the support of 19 MPs, at least for now.
Mayawati had also launched a veiled attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
“Earlier, we thought about withdrawing support (from the UPA government). But my party suggested that no decision should be taken before my meeting with the Prime Minister. I attended the meeting on the directive of the party,” Mayawati said.
She said the meeting took place in a “congenial atmosphere” and that issues were discussed with “seriousness”. Mayawati added that the result of her talks with Singh was ``fruitful.’’
Apart from the political agenda, Mayawati had brought with her a list of pre-budget demands.
She sought an early sanction of the Taj International Airport Project, to come up in Greater Noida, a special package of Rs 80,000 crore to develop the backward regions of Bundelkhand and Purvanchal regions and the immediate release of Rs 9,000 crore, which had been promised as central assistance for different schemes run by the state government.
Singh assured Mayawati all steps would be taken for the development of UP. It was learnt that the total resources to be made available to the state in the 11th plan would be Rs 2,80,000 crore, 3.5 per cent more than in the 10th plan.
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Village secretary arrested for ₹99 lakh fraud in Charkhi Dadri
The police on Wednesday arrested a village secretary posted at Charkhi Dadri's Badhra for allegedly withdrawing Rs 99 lakh from the account of 14 village panchayats of Badhra block by forging signatures. The village secretary, Mukesh, was arrested from his residence in Kalanaur in Rohtak. Badhra DSP Desraj said they have arrested the accused from Kalanaur and produced him before a local court, which granted him three-day police remand.
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Taking a dig at former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and former Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, after coming out of Patiala Jail, said that those who unleashed vendetta against him are now the “biggest losers and have no political standing”. He said, “The court order has failed all conspiracies against me by Channi, Sidhu, ADGP Harpreet Sidhu and others.”
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The issue of the restoration of wrongly partitioned and alienated thousands of acres of shamilat deh (village land reserved and used for a common purpose) to gram panchayats in Haryana following a landmark April 7 Supreme Court judgment resonated in the state assembly on Wednesday with the Leader of Opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda demanding that the state government should file a review petition in the apex court.
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Rape on pretext of marriage: Ferozepur court orders framing of charges against army major
An army major was booked for raping a woman on pretext of marriage on the orders of a local court on Tuesday night. A 30-year-old woman, a resident of Ferozepur, filed a complaint against the major, who hails from Ludhiana, in the in the court of judicial magistrate first class Balwinder Kaur Dhaliwal saying she had become acquainted with the major in 2016 when he was posted in the district.
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Sangrur govt schools directed to sell flags, teachers oppose move
The administration has designated all government schools across the district as authorised points for the sale of national flags under the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, and allegedly assigned them a target to sell at least 50 flags that are priced at ₹25 each. Teachers' unions have also met district education officers and demanded that the assignment be withdrawn.