Crucial verdict in case agnst Sasikala tom to decide her fate

New Delhi/Chennai, Feb 13 (PTI) The all-important Supreme Court verdict, which will decide the future of AIADMK supremo VK Sasikala, locked in a battle for chief ministership with O Pannerselvam, is set to be pronounced tomorrow.

The make-or-mar judgement for Sasikala in the disproportionate assets case is likely to be delivered at 10:30 am, according to the Supreme Court causelist of cases to be taken up by it tomorrow.

The bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, will pass its order on a batch of appeals, including the one filed by the Karnataka government acquitting the main accused in the case, former Tamil Nadu chief minister the late J Jayalalithaa and three others, including Sasikala.

Since Jayalalithaa is dead, the case against her would be abated. The other accused in the case are Sasikala's relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi. All four had been convicted by the trial court, but acquitted by the Karnataka High Court.

The political future of Sasikala, a long-time friend of Jayalalithaa, would entirely hinge on the Supreme Court judgement.

Sasikala, who was elected AIADMK legislature party leader on February five, will be rendered ineligible for contesting an assembly election in the event of conviction, thereby stifling her ambition of becoming the Chief Minister.

The information about the likely Supreme Court order came on a day Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi advised Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to hold a special session of the state assembly within a week for a floor test to ascertain who between Sasikala and caretaker Chief Minister O Panneerselvam enjoys majority support of AIADMK MLAs.

In his opinion, sources said, Rohatgi has stated that "he (Governor) should call a special session within a week's time and have a composite floor test as was ordered by the Supreme Court in the Jagdambika Pal case".

The Attorney General has cited the 1998 Supreme Court judgement in the Jagdambika Pal case in which the apex court had ordered a floor test in the assembly to determine who between the two claimants -- Pal and Kalyan Singh -- commanded the majority support for chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh.

If the Governor, who has kept his cards close to chest since last Thursday, the day Sasikala staked claim to form the government, goes by the AG's advise, the dispute between the rival AIADMK factions would be decided on the floor of the House.

The Governor can also swear in Sasikala without the assembly having to go through the rigour of a floor test as she has already been elected the AIADMK legislature party leader.

Panneerselvam's revolt notwithstanding, she enjoys the support of an overwhelming majority of party MLAs, six of whom have shifted their loyalty to the caretaker Chief Minister.

Pannerselvam also has the backing of 11 MPs, including two of the Rajya Sabha.

The Tamil Nadu government today informed the Madras High Court, hearing habeas corpus petitions seeking production of two MLAs who were said to be lodged at a resort on Chennai's outskirts that apart from them 119 legislators kept there have recorded their statements saying they have not been illegally detained.

Tamil Nadu has a 234-member assembly and Sasikala looks set for a facile victory during a floor test, but an adverse court verdict can put paid to her chief ministerial ambition.

N Korea fires ballistic missile in challenge to Trump: Seoul

Seoul, Feb 12 (AFP) North Korea fired a ballistic missile today in an apparent provocation to test the response from new US President Donald Trump, the South Korean defence ministry said.

The missile, launched around 7:55 am (local time) from Banghyon air base in the western province of North Pyongan Province, flew east towards the Sea of Japan (East Sea), it said.

The missile flew about 500 kilometres before falling into the sea, a defence ministry spokesman said, adding the exact type of missile had yet to be identified.

"It is believed that today's missile launch ... is aimed at drawing global attention to the North by boasting its nuclear and missile capabilities," the ministry said in a statement.

"It is also believed that it was an armed provocation to test the response from the new US administration under President Trump," it added.

Yonhap news agency said the South Korean military suspected the North might have been testing a intermediate-range Musudan missile.

Last October North Korea test-fired Musudan missiles twice from the same airbase.

On a visit to Seoul earlier this month, new US Defense Secretary James Mattis warned Pyongyang that any nuclear attack would be met with an "effective and overwhelming" response.

"Any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with a response that would be effective and overwhelming," Mattis said.

Pyongyang in 2016 conducted two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches in its quest to develop a nuclear weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland.

In January leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that Pyongyang was in the "final stages" of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in an apparent attempt to pressure the incoming US president.

Trump shot back on Twitter, saying "It won't happen." 

The latest North Korean launch also comes after Trump assured visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Washington was committed to the security of its key Asian ally.

"We will work together to promote our shared interests, of which we have many, in the region, including freedom from navigation and defending against the North Korean missile and nuclear threat, both of which I consider a very, very high priority," Trump said Friday.

Washington has repeatedly vowed that it would never accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed nation.

Analysts are divided over how close Pyongyang is to realising its full nuclear ambitions, especially as it has never successfully test-fired an ICBM.

But all agree it has made enormous strides in that direction since Kim took over after the death of his father and longtime ruler, Kim Jong-Il, in December 2011.

Trump considers 'brand new' executive order on immigration

Washington, Feb 11 (PTI) President Donald Trump has said he is considering signing a "brand new" executive order by next week temporarily barring refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the country, a day after a US court refused to reinstate his controversial travel ban.

"We will win that battle. The unfortunate part is that it takes time statutorily, but we will win that battle. We also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order," Trump told reporters travelling with him on Air Force One from Andrews Air Force Base to Florida.

Asked if his plan might be to issue a new executive order, Trump said: "It very well could be. We need speed for reasons of security, so it very well could be." 

Trump said that "in honour of the (9th US Circuit court) decision" he will likely wait until next week to respond with any action. "Perhaps Monday or Tuesday," he said.

The new executive order on immigration would include security measures, Trump said.

"New security measures. We have very, very strong vetting. I call it extreme vetting and we're going very strong on security. We are going to have people coming to our country that want to be here for good reason," he said.

The President's remarks came after a three-judge bench of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to reinstate his controversial travel ban on Thursday.

The judgement means that citizens of seven majority- Muslim countries will continue to be able to travel to the US.

Trump signed the executive order last month suspending the arrival of all refugees for at least 120 days, Syrian refugees indefinitely, and barring citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, fulfilling one of his central campaign promises.

"We will be doing something very rapidly to do with the additional security for our country. You'll be seeing that sometime next week," Trump said speaking at the White House.

"In addition, we will continue to go through the court process and ultimately, I have no doubt we will win that particular case," Trump told reporters during a joint news conference yesterday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We are going to keep our country safe. We are going to do whatever is necessary to keep our country safe. We have had decision which we think will be very successful with, it shouldn't have taken this much time because safety is a primary reason," Trump said.

"One of the reasons I am standing here today, the security of our country, the voters felt I would give it the best security," he said, indicating that he would continue with his efforts for the safety and security of the US despite the court setback.

"While I've been President, which is just for a very short period of time, I've learned tremendous things that you could only learn, frankly, if you were in a certain position, namely President," he said.

Trump said there are tremendous threats to the country.

"We will not allow that to happen, I can tell you that right now. So we'll be going forward and we'll be doing things to continue to make our country safe. It will happen rapidly and we will not allow people into our country who are looking to do harm to our people," he said.

Wait for CM in TN gets longer

Chennai, Feb 10 (PTI) The wait for Chief Ministership in Tamil Nadu prolonged with Governor Vidyasagar Rao still undecided on the issue as the feud in the ruling AIADMK escalated today with V K Sasikala sacking party presidium chairman E Madusudanan who wrote to the Election Commission not to recognise her as General Secretary.

The Governor was said to be still evaluating legal opinion on Sasikala's claim to having an overwhelming support of party MLAs while the judgement of Supreme Court on disproportionate assets case against her was imminent next week.

On his part, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam tonight asserted that his camp would not allow the party to go into hands of 'a family' and that the "dream of those to capture power" will end as a "day dream".

Sending a strong message to her detractors, Sasikala sacked Madusudanan from the primary membership of the party, a day after he switched over to the rebel camp led by caretaker Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, and appointed former minister K A Sengottaiyan in his place.

Sengottaiyan was relieved as the party's Organisation Secretary, a post to which he was appointed last week.

Sasikala urged the party workers not to have any truck with Madusudanan and said they should extend their cooperation to Sengottaiyan.

Giving a major boost to the rival camp, Madusudanan yesterday extended his support to Panneerselvam, saying he wanted to "safeguard" the party.

"To protect AIADMK, everybody should join hands with OPS (Panneerselvam)," he had said.

Sasikala had removed Panneerselvam from the Treasurer post immediately after his revolt, but he has maintained that being a temporary general secretary, she does not have the powers to appoint or remove party functionaries. Insisting that he continues to be the treasurer, Panneerselvam has written to banks not to allow anybody else to operate the party accounts without his consent.

Sasikala had appointed another senior leader Dindigul C Srinivasan as the treasurer.

Hitting back at Sasikala, Madusudanan has written to the poll panel urging it to not to recognise her as AIADMK general secretary, saying she was not elected to the post as per party by-laws.

Madusudanan told reporters about the letter shortly before he was sacked from AIADMK by Sasikala for "acting against the party".

Asserting that only cadres can elect a general secretary as per party rules, Madusudanan said he had asked the EC not to recognise Sasikala as party chief.

Expelled AIADMK Rajya Sabha member Sasikala Pushpa has already petitioned the EC against the election of V K Sasikala, saying it was not done as per procedure and the EC has sought the party's response to it. .

Mattis calls Parrikar, vows to build upon defence cooperation

Washington, Feb 9 (PTI) India and the US have agreed to "sustain the momentum on key bilateral defence efforts", as Defence Secretary James Mattis called his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar and expressed commitment to build upon the tremendous progress made in defence cooperation.

This was the first conversation between the two leaders after Mattis was sworn in as the Defense Secretary of the US President Donald Trump last month.

"In their first conversation, Secretary Mattis committed to build upon the tremendous progress in bilateral defense cooperation made in recent years, underscoring the strategic importance of the US-India relationship and India's role in advancing global peace and security," the Pentagon Press Secretary Capt Jeff Davis said yesterday.

"Secretary Mattis and Minister Parrikar affirmed their commitment to sustain the momentum on key bilateral defense efforts to include the defense technology and trade initiative," Davis said after the phone call between the two leaders which took place yesterday.

Tests for Moon Landing of Chandrayaan-2

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has started a series of ground tests for testing the performance of sensors and actuators for soft landing of the Lander on the lunar surface.   

Special tests for new systems in Lander have been identified and a Lander Sensors Performance Test over artificial craters created in Chitradurga district in Karnataka, has been conducted. Lunar Terrain Test facility is ready for Lander drop test and Rover mobility tests. 

ISRO is working towards the launch of Chandrayaan-2 during the first quarter of 2018. The Chandrayaan-2 comprises of indigenous Orbiter, Lander and Rover. After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander housing the Rover will separate from the Orbiter. After a controlled descent, the Lander will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a Rover. The instruments on the rover will collect data for analysis of the lunar soil. 

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

ISRO Rover on Lunar Surface

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to deploy a rover on the lunar surface in the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

The Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the Moon, is a totally indigenous mission comprising of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover. After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander housing the Rover will separate from the Orbiter. After a controlled descent, the Lander will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy a Rover.

The six-wheeled Rover will move around the landing site in semi-autonomous mode as decided by the ground commands. The instruments on the rover will observe the lunar surface and send back data, which will be useful for analysis of the lunar soil. Collection of soil and rock sediments is not planned in this mission.

ISRO is working towards the launch of Chandrayaan-2 during the first quarter of 2018.

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

RBI keeps status quo on policy, wants banks to lower rates

Mumbai, Feb 8 (PTI) RBI today kept rates unchanged citing lack of clarity on macro front post note-ban and rising inflationary threat, even as it signalled a possible end to rate-cutting cycle by shunning long-held "accomodative" stance while Governor Urjit Patel nudged banks to make loans cheaper.

Patel-headed six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) unanimously decided to maintain status quo on repo rate for the second time in a row, leaving it untouched at six year-low of 6.25 per cent, so as to "assess how the transitory effects of demonetisation on inflation and the output gap play out." 

"The MPC exercised abundant prudence in keeping the policy rates on hold while looking at these transient effects and awaited a clearer and unbiased assessment of inflation," Patel said at his post-policy press meet.

RBI also lowered its current fiscal GDP growth forecast to 6.9 per cent, while expecting a rebound to 7.4 per cent in the next year. In the last bi-monthly policy also, RBI had slashed its growth forecast from 7.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent.

The central bank listed the threats, including rising oil and metal prices and the "stubborn" core inflation at nearly 5 per cent, which make it pertinent to have the flexibility of acting in either directions, while shifting from its two-year "accommodative" policy stance to a "neutral" one that virtually dashes hopes of further cuts in immediate future.

During these two years, as inflation continued its downward journey, the RBI cut its key rates by 1.75 per cent.

Patel, however, was quick to note that there is more room for banks to lower their lending rates saying the weighted average lending rate has come down by only up to 0.90 per cent, while RBI has delivered 175 bps cut since January 2015.

"There is still scope for the lending rates to come down because our policy rates came down by 175 basis points and weighted average lending rates have come down only by 85-90 basis points. I think that there is scope for more transmission," Patel said.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das also hoped that banks will step up their lending with focus on SMEs, housing and individual loans.

Disappointed with the Reserve Bank's decision to leave key policy rates unchanged, industry leaders, however, said a rate cut was needed to revive demand hit by the cash crunch post demonetisation. They also expressed concern over the apex bank shifting the stance of the monetary policy.

Post-demonetisation, banks had sharply reduced their lending rates based on marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR).

In fact, the MCLR was born in April last year after repeated call by the former Governor Raghuram Rajan went unheeded by bankers to lower rates even after the RBI had done so by 125 bps.

Explaining the rationale for a status quo on the policy front, Patel made it clear that the central bank is committed to achieve its medium-term inflation objective of 4 per cent without giving up on boosting the growth drivers. .

PM slams Manmohan for his 'loot' & 'plunder' comments

New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today targeted his predecessor Manmohan Singh for describing demonetisation as "loot" and "plunder" even as he asserted in the Rajya Sabha that the fight against black money is not a political one or against any party.

He tore into Congress and took on Singh who had described demonetisation as "organised loot" and "legalised plunder", saying "the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on" is known only to the former Prime Minister as there is "no blot on him" despite "all the scams".

This provoked an angry reaction from Congress members who staged a walkout in the midst of the reply by the Prime Minister to a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address which was later adopted by the House after negation of all the 651 amendments.

Members of Left, Trinamool Congress and JD(U) also staged a walkout after the reply, complaining that they were unhappy with Modi's statement and wanted to ask questions which was disallowed.

Modi, in his over one-hour speech, focussed his attack on Congress and other opposition parties for criticising the demonetisation decision and his push for cash-less economy.

He also slammed the Congress for finding faults with lack of proper infrastructure in the country, saying by doing so, they were only presenting their "report card" of 70-year rule.

Targeting Singh, he said, "in this country, perhaps there will be hardly anyone from the economic field who has had dominance on the country's financial affairs for half of the country's 70 years of independence. Out of 70 years, for 30-35 years, he has been directly associated with financial decisions.

"So many scams occurred... We politicians have a lot to learn from Dr Sahab. So much happened, there is not a single blot on him. Dr Sahab is the only person who knows the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on."

As Congress members created uproar and staged a walkout, an angry Modi said, "if you cross the limits of decorum, then you should have courage to listen to the response. We have the capacity to pay in the same coin. We do so within the limits of decorum and boundaries of the Constitution. They (Congress) don't want to accept the defeat in any form. How long will it continue??

He went on to add, "the person who held such a high post, used the words 'loot' and 'plunder' in the House. Then they (Congress) also should have thought 50 times (before using those words)." .

PM’s reply to the motion of thanks on the President’s Address in the Lok Sabha

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today replied to the motion of thanks on the President’s Address in the Lok Sabha. He thanked the various Members of the House, for adding vigour into the debate, and sharing insightful points.

Stating that there is something very special about 'Jan Shakti' – people’s power – the Prime Minister said that it is due to this 'Jan Shakti' that a person born in a poor family can become the Prime Minister of India.

The Prime Minister said that there are many people like him, who may not have had the opportunity to die for the nation during the freedom struggle, but who, being born in free India, are living for, and serving the nation. Stating that faith in Jan Shakti will give good results, he called upon the Members to understand and appreciate the inherent strength of our people, and take India to newer heights.

Explaining the rationale behind the advancement of the budget date, the Prime Minister said this would ensure better utilization of funds. Similarly, he said that the transport sector in the country now requires a comprehensive approach, which is possible by having just one Union Budget.

The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction at the change of discourse since he assumed office – stating that from a time when the discussion was on how much money is lost through scams, the discussion is now on how much black money has been recovered. 

 The Prime Minister declared that his struggle is for the poor, and this struggle to give the poor their due, will continue. He said that this Government does not see everything from the prism of elections, and the interests of the nation are supreme for the Government.

Comparing demonetization to the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Prime Minister said it is a movement to clean India from corruption and black money.

Responding to criticism of frequent changes in the rules related to demonetization, the Prime Minister said that this was done to stay a step ahead of those who wanted to find loopholes in the exercise. He noted that rules for MNREGA were also changed over a thousand times.

The Prime Minister said steps like crop insurance have been taken in a way that facilitates and benefits farmers.

The Prime Minister also praised the nation’s armed forces, and said that they are fully capable of defending the nation.