The affidavit did not even refer to or mention any person. Therefore, the inference which is sought to be drawn that a clean chit has been given to Fernandes is unjustified and totally unwarranted, he said.
"I had the opportunity to telephone my old friend George Fernandes and told him I had heard about the problem he had," he said.
Recalling the veteran socialist's association with the city, Communist Party of India leader Prakash Reddy said that Fernandes had in 1967 emerged as the "giant killer" by defeating Patil, who was then called the "uncrowned king of Bombay" and represented the Bombay South Lok Sabha seat.
'George Fernandes is a decent and sober leader. He also proved to be a good defence minister. But what he hid and what\n\nmade headlines through Talbott's book has hurt our national self-respect,' said the outfit's mouthpiece Panchjanya.
Kumar banged his table at Patna's Indian Coffee House as he announced this to an audience that was discussing alleged corruption in Bihar in 1977, writes Sankarshan Thakur in his biography of Kumar -- The Brothers Bihari.
The Padma Award ceremonies scheduled for March 26 and April 3 stand postponed, a home ministry official said.
The Chinese embassy, in a letter to some of the members of the All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet, expressed concern over their attendance at the event and asked them to refrain from providing support to Tibetan forces.
GSOMIA does not cover the exchange of classified information with Indian private industry. Washington wanted this covered too, given New Delhi's emphasis on the proposed 'strategic partnership' model of procurement.
'George Fernandes was an innocent among the cut-throats and pickpockets who infest the political jungle.' 'He was too good a man to achieve spectacular success in the game of thrones,' notes Sunanda K Datta Ray.
Wait for a while before he does another somersault... But one thing is reasonably certain -- the twice betrayed BJP may not embrace him again, predicts Virendra Kapoor.
The Padma Vibhushan for this year has been awarded to a total of seven prominent personalities, while 16 have been given the Padma Bhushan, 118 have been given the Padma Shri on the 71st Republic Day this year, they said.
The founder of the newly floated Raijor Dal -- arrested in December 2019 over sedition charges - bagged 57,219 votes as an Independent, garnering support from 46.06 per cent of the electorate.
It is now a different time in Bihar. It is a different place -- one in which Raghuvansh Prasad Singh's options are very limited, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Dilli Gupshup: The return of the V K Singh saga led one Union minister to blame Defence Minister A K Antony for the mess.
The Janata Dal-United, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, opposed the government's move on Article 370 through a fresh Presidential Order ending special status to Jammu and Kashmir. On Monday, opposing the Narendra Modi-led government's decision, they walked out of the Rajya Sabha where the bill to split the state into two Union Territories was passed. Similarly, on Tuesday, the JD-U walked out of Lok Sabha while the bill was being discussed. In Patna, JD-U national spokesperson K C Tyagi said: "We completely differ with the Central government's move on Jammu and Kashmir. There was a need for wider consultations on it, but no consultation was done even within the NDA. We own the legacy of socialist leaders Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narayan, who had opposed attempts to tamper with Article 370 during Congress (government in the past)." Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com on the same, the JD-U leader said that 'walking out of Parliament won't affect their ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party'.
President Ram Nath Kovind presented Padma awards to 73 individuals, some posthumously, at a ceremony held in the Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Monday.
The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of Leila Kabir, wife of former Defence Minister George Fernandes, on a petition by his close political associate Jaya Jaitly seeking permission to visit the ailing 82-year-old leader.
Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar on Monday got engaged to Savi, daughter of his coach Satpal Singh, at a private ceremony in New Delhi attended by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
'Is China's intention not clear?' 'Do we still think that if we are nice to China, it will be good to us?'
Dr Bhabha and Dr Sarabhai didn't feel guilty for their ambitions; it was for those 'mad scientists' that India is a powerhouse -- both at the atomic level and in the vastness of space, observes Kumar Abishek.
The ongoing tussle between veteran Socialist leader George Fernandes' estranged wife Leila Kabir and his brothers Richard and Michael led to a uproarious scene on Wednesday outside the leader's official residence in New Delhi.
A former protege of the JD-U de facto leader, Kushwaha, had revolted against Kumar in 2013, giving up his Rajya Sabha berth and floated his own outfit.
A retired Indian Army General has blamed India's "timid" response to the Pakistani military ingress in Kargil in 1999 for the series of terrorist strikes beginning with the attack on Parliament in 2001.
Apparently reflecting their discomfort, no BJP leader today showed up at a function in which Jaswant Singh's book on Jinnah was released and where his view that Nehru was responsible for the Partition was contested.
Nobody bothered to articulate the upsides; instead, the four-year tour of duty and denial of life-long pensions got played up.
Job-seekers for government and related opportunities found that their future was at risk, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
'Sanjeev Kumar was my favourite actor. But no one can compare with Amitabh Bachchan.'
"I salute your spirit, your valour from the bottom of my heart. Jawans and officers in the Armed Forces have a sense of pride, that is the strongest sentiment in the heart of any human," Singh said while addressing personnel at the Siachen Base Camp.
With his name not figuring in the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet in the coffin scam, former defence minister George Fernandes on Monday demanded an apology from the Congress for alleging his involvement in the 2002 case.
Former Union minister and senior Janata Dal-United leader George Fernandes filed his nomination papers in Patna on Thursday as a party candidate for Rajya Sabha by election from Bihar.
The Mumbai labour unions that had gifted the property to Fernandes is now exploring legal options to evict Jaitley from the place.
Targetting Priyanka Gandhi, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley on Monday said her ignorance about the presence of party candidate Smriti Irani in Amethi showed the Congress star campaigner's "arrogance at its worst".
Shekhawat was accompanied by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other NDA leaders.
However, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, hosting a meeting of the leaders of the Third Front in Chennai on Sunday, said the Front would 'choose a nominee' for the presidential election.
They adopted a resolution moved by NDA convenor George Fernandes where the parties vowed to dislodge 'the anti-poor, anti-kisan, corrupt, non-performing and an internally paralysed UPA government' and secure a decisive mandate for the NDA in the next elections, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said.
Threats were often communicated to Pandit homes through notes tied to stones chucked through a window, or a notice pasted on a wall. Those sometimes came from neighbours eyeing that Pandit family's property. Those threats often worked in the atmosphere of terror during that awful season of vacuous exercise of State authority, writes David Devadas, longtime Kashmir watcher and author of two books on the Valley.
The Leader of the Opposition L K Advani wants the government to 'amend' the condemnation statement made against the opposition in the House.
Former Defence Minister George Fernandes was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation recently, in connection with alleged irregularities in the purchase of seven Barak missiles worth Rs 1150 crore, from Israel.The CBI officials visited the residence of ailing Fernandes, who was Defence Minister in the National Democratic Alliance government, on two separate occasions and asked him questions as to why the deal of purchase of Barak Missile Systems was pushed.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on Thursday formed a human chain in Parliament complex to protest price rise while its leader L K Advani asked the government to quit and go for elections if it was unable to control inflation. Alleging that the government had 'failed' on the issue, Advani joined NDA members, including leaders like Rajnath Singh, George Fernandes and Manohar Joshi, in forming the chain.
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