Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to cooperate with SIT

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to cooperate with SIT

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has been summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with Ehsaan Jaffrey murder case, will cooperate with the investigators, the Gujarat government said Friday.

GUJARAT CHIEF minister Narendra Modi, who has been summoned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with Ehsaan Jaffrey murder case, will cooperate with the investigators, the Gujarat government said Friday.

State government spokesperson, Jay Narayan Vyas said that the government and chief minister Narendra Modi will cooperate in the investigation. It was not however said whether the CM himself will appear before the SIT, investigating the murder case in the Gujarat 2002 riots.

The Special Investigation Team was constituted by the Supreme Court after a complaint was lodged by Ehsaan Jaffrey's widow, Zakia Jaffrey. She has accused Modi and 62 others of being complicit in anti-minority riots, which broke out in the state after the burning of the Sabarmati Express near Godhra railway station in 2002

Zakiya Jaffrey has alleged that the chief minister and his colleagues had asked the police and administration to refrain from helping the muslims during the Gujarat riots.

BJP meanwhile has defended Modi saying that some NGOs had a vested interest in defaming the Gujarat chief minister. The party also said that Modi's case was part of a legal process and will give due respect to the rule of law.

Narendra Modi has swine flu, isolated for a week

Gandhinagar, Oct 30 (IANS) Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is suffering from swine flu, doctors said Friday, two days after his return from Russia. He has been quarantined for a week and officials, businessmen and others who have interacted with him recently have been advised medical caution.

The 60-year-old Modi's sample was found positive at the government civil hospital in Ahmedabad, doctor Atul Patel said Friday morning.
The chief minister, who returned from his four-day visit to Russia Wednesday, had worked through Thursday, attending his official engagements despite feeling tired and coughing frequently.
But on Friday, the doctors confirmed that he has contracted the H1N1 virus. Modi has a team of doctors attending on him at his official residence and all his appointments have been cancelled.
Gujarat has so far seen 40 swine flu deaths and over 270 cases.
The media initially sniffed something wrong when tests for swine flu were carried out and a "VIP" sample dispatched post haste for tests from here to Ahmedabad.
Attempts for confirmation continued well past Thursday midnight but Modi's personal staff as well as official sources continued to stonewall all such efforts before confirming the news Friday morning.
The entire staff of the chief minister's office, members of the state cabinet and those in the secretariat who may have interacted with him after his Russia visit are being put through the mandatory medical drill for swine flu.
"An advisory has been issued to the ministers of the state cabinet to reduce their interaction with the public for sometime and even when it becomes absolutely essential, to do so keeping a distance," an official source said requesting anonymity.
"The same stands true for all the government officials and even members of the delegation that accompanied him. All of them are being administered Tamiflu," the source said.
The chief minister had gone to Russia at the head of a business delegation to attend the fourth International Energy Week at the World Trade Centre in Moscow. He interacted with over 60 leading lights from various oil and gas majors.
Accompanying him in the delegation were top names like Sudhir Mehta, chairman, Torrent Group; Pranav Adani, MD, Adani Wilmar Group; Nitin Shukla, CEO, Shell Hazira; Hari Bhartiya of Jubilant; Nikhil Merchant, chairman, Swan Group; Jayesh Buch, executive director of Essar Group; D. Rajgopalan, chief secretary of Gujarat; S. Jagadeeshan, principal secretary, energy and petrochemicals; and D.J. Pandian, managing director, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.
Government doctors are not hazarding a guess on whether the chief minister contracted the virus within the state or during his Russia visit. "Usually it takes about a week before the first signs of swine flu become visible but this is not a cast iron norm," the source said.
After he returned from Russia, those who interacted with him noticed symptoms of cold coupled with incessant coughing. "He looked tired and under the weather to some extent, but then this was to be expected given the hectic nature of his schedule and cross-continent travel that it involved," said a minister.
Modi was slated to attend 11 programmes Saturday, but these have been cancelled.
Bharatiya Janata Party cadres and his well wishers are praying for his recovery. The party office has been flooded with enquiries and local news channels are swamped with 'get well' messages.

Modi's woes: Will PM offer relief?

He said, "India will not grow only with skill development but knowledge-based society can only help in human resource development in India.Gujarat to some extent tried to achieve that at the recently concluded Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011."

He also called for higher education institutes like IIMs and IITs to train students in policy making as well.

Modi's woes: Will PM offer relief?

Prime Minister reportedly gave a patient hearing to the memorandum submitted by the chief minister and assured him of his personal intervention in the issues raised in memorandum.

Meanwhile, speaking at the 46th convocation of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Modi urged the Central government to move towards creation of a "knowledge-based society" instead of mere skill development.

Modi's woes: Will PM offer relief?

He also urged the PM that under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program (AIBP), areas in the state covered under Desert Development Program (DDP) should be considered at par with the areas under Drought Prone Area Program (DPAP) as was done in the states of Punjab and Karnataka and accordingly, 90% financial assistance under AIBP should be provided for Narmada command area development under Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) in an area of 8.73 lakh hectare.

Taking up the issue of Income Tax notice to the Gujarat government for the MoUs signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit, Modi criticised the move saying that it was totally unfair and that did not come under the purview of this department.

Modi's woes: Will PM offer relief?

He also pointed out that around 130 items, which were exempted from the central excise duty till date, have been proposed to be covered under the excise net, which will impose an extra burden on the common man already reeling under inflationary pressure. In a release, the government informed that issues of pending approval for allocation of gas from KG basin to GPPC 702 MW gas-based power plant at Pipavav were also taken up in the meeting with the PM.

Modi's woes: Will PM offer relief?

Modi's woes: Will PM offer relief?

Next

BS Reporter in Mumbai/Ahmedabad

In his representation to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi submitted a memorandum on long pending issues of the state.

The Prime Minister was on his visit to Ahmedabad to attend the 46th annual convocation of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on Saturday.

In his meeting with the PM at the circuit house, Modi raised the point of gas allocation to the power plants in Gujarat as already approved and also urged to correct the injustice suffered by the CNG vehicles owners in the form of frequent increase in the CNG prices.