OID‹‰‰†‰KOID‹‰‰†‰OID‹‰‰†‰MOID‹‰‰†‰C New Delhi, Wednesday,January 29, 2003 Capital 48 pages* Invitation Price Rs. 1.50 International India Times Sport Steven Spielberg once Another feather in Doubts over two wanted to make a Bhansali’s cap, Devdas venues; ICC board to James Bond film gets Bafta nomination review security Page 14 Page 13 Page 22 WIN WITH THE TIMES Two reports: One talks war, other says go slow Weapons UN is looking for Established 1838 What Blix sees What ElBaradei sees Mustard gas: This blisters the skin and Bennett, Coleman & Co., Ltd. Mahajan •Iraq not ready to accept •No evidence of Iraq reviv- eyes and attacks lung tissue Heck no, we won’t go. disarmament demands ing its nuclear programme Chemical bombs: Iraq failed to account • Hiding documents in • Inspectors need a few for 6,500 chemical warfare bombs — Anti-Vietnam war slogan private houses more months Anthrax: Produced 8,500 litres of anthrax NEWS DIGEST may go to • Not complying on air surveillance • Documents found at a scientist’s Biological nutrients: Yet to declare 650 • There’s a sense of urgency to house were of little significance kg of bacterial growth nutrients meant 40 die in Bengal mishap: Forty achieve disarmament • No prohibited nuke activities seen for biological agents people were charred to death, when a Kolkata-bound tourist bus from Orissa collided with a paint-laden truck and burst into flames at Baliara party job in Howrah district. Azhar hopeful now: Mohammad Azharuddin said he Shourie may move to commerce; Iraq ready to strike Kuwait had full faith in the ju- AFP diciary and he was Uma, Jana quit portfolios Ottawa/United Nations: Iraq sure it would deliver has threatened to target Kuwait justice to me. He was By Smita Gupta and Tuesday night. Sanjay Dutta and retaliate against American reacting to the news Mahajan’s impending shift troops as US President George W TIMES NEWS NETWORK that the ban on Ajay is said to have resulted from Bush prepares to set out his case Jadeja was revoked Naidu’s complaint that if New Delhi: There was fre- for war. The US will be ready to by a court arbitrator on Monday. P24 Jaitley — one of his key gen- netic activity within the BJP strike by mid-February,Pentagon eral secretaries — was mov- Insulting Gandhi: A US fashion and amongst its members in officials have said. ing to the cabinet, he was en- magazine has outraged pacifists the Union government as the Though isolated in the 15-na- titled to get an equally impor- with an article depicting a brawny cabinet reshuffle scheduled tion UN security Council, Bush is tant replacement. man beating up Mahatma Gandhi for Wednesday took on the expected to use his State of the Sources said Jaitley, whom and calling for a healthy regimen of contours of a major exercise. Union address around 7.30 a.m. violent assaults to gain fitness. P15 the PM is keen to have back, IST on Wednesday, to make the Ministers and senior party is likely to get his old portfo- Euro stocks rally: European functionaries frantically lob- United States’ case for war. lio of law, justice and compa- The Bush administration is stocks rebounded, gold lost its lus- bied for and against being ny affairs. He will also hold tre and the dollar steadied on Tues- also likely to declassify informa- moved around or dropped as additional charge of commu- day as markets nervously looked to tion by next week which proves Deputy Prime Minister L K nications, the logic being that US President George W Bush’s state Advani confabulated with that Baghdad has concealed of the union address for the next most telecom policy issues weapons and information from BJP president Venkaiah seem mired in legal tangles. move in the Iraq crisis. P17 Naidu late into the night. the UN weapons inspectors. Meanwhile, the re-entry of The two top leaders of the UN According to informed C P Thakur into the cabinet sources, a decision has been weapons inspection team — Hans seemed a certainty. Health Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei taken to drop communica- minister Shatrughan Sinha tions, IT and parliamentary — reportedly differed in their as- gave an interview defending sessments of Iraq’s adherence to affairs minister Pramod Ma- himself against the criticism hajan from the cabinet and in- UN regulations on possession of he has been facing, but it weapons of mass destruction. duct him into the party as seemed clear that he would general secretary. (See detailed report on page 15). be getting a new job in the While Blix said that Iraq might Disinvestment minister Iraqi President Saddam Hussein meeting his army commanders in Baghdad on Monday. next 24 hours. be hiding documents relating to Arun Shourie is also set to be Two other cabinet vacan- its nuclear arsenal, ElBaradei Iraq should be given to turn on not coming clean, Iraqi Deputy was launched from there. Agencies gently kicked upstairs — to cies were created Tuesday said there was nothing signifi- the lights and become clean. Prime Minister Tariq Aziz prom- Comment: By so emphatically full charge of commerce night when coal and mines cant in the documents hidden. Iraq’s time for choosing peaceful ised more cooperation in future. proclaiming the inevitability of and industry; his former min- minister Uma Bharati and In Washington, US Secretary of disarmament is ending’’. But Aziz made it clear that if war, the US may well be render- istry will come under the con- law minister K Jana Krishna- State Colin Powell said Iraq did Iraq, on its part, has already US invaded, they would be met ing itself deaf to possible non-vi- trol of finance minister murthy also put in their pa- not have ‘‘much more time’’ to started accumulating food and with ‘‘bullets, not flowers’’. Iraq olent solutions which would en- Jaswant Singh. pers. While Uma will take comply. ‘‘The issue is not how medicine in view of the impend- would not seek to attack targets able it to achieve its goals in Iraq The fate of Shourie’s bete over the MP state unit, Krish- much more time the inspectors ing war. After UN weapons in- on the US mainland. It could — and further afield. noire, oil minister Ram Naik, namurthy appears to be head- by Laxman need... but how much more time spectors criticised Baghdad for strike at Kuwait if an US strike See Sacred Space on page 16 YOU SAID IT was hanging in the balance ed for political wilderness. Cong splits, 8 Sops for housing, go to Mayawati small savings stay TIMES NEWS NETWORK & PTI Lucknow: In a blow to the Congress in Ut- TIMES NEWS NETWORK can be no rise in expenditure. tar Pradesh, eight of its 24 MLAs broke But the interests of the vulner- New Delhi: Finance minister away from the party on Tuesday to form a able sections of society have to Jaswant Singh is not very hap- new group. Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi be kept in mind.’’ py with the report of the Raj- granted recognition to the group — named The Rajnath Singh commit- nath Singh committee on the Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal — as a tee opposed the abolition of tax Kelkar panel recommenda- separate party. rebates on savings as provided tions, party sources said. Akhilesh Singh — who had been ex- under Section 88, 80L and 10 of While receiving the eight-page pelled by the Congress sometime ago — Why he hasn’t come by helicopter report from BJP president M the Income Tax Act and the re- said the new party would nominate its ex- as he used to? He is no more a Venkaiah Naidu on Monday moval of deduction in respect ecutive committee on Wednesday and then minister that’s why. evening, he did not conceal his of interest on housing loans, decide its future course of action. unhappiness, the sources said. now at Rs 1.5 lakh, at a time However, according to a report, six Later, Deputy Prime Minis- when the government has set a MLAs had met Tripathi and expressed indiatimes.com POLL ter L K Advani, the sources target of building one crore confidence in the leadership of chief Yesterday’s results: Do you think added, also met Jaswant Singh housing units in five years. minister Mayawati. They said that Ajay Jadeja should be selected to explain the party’s views — It has also rejected the with- two more MLAs would join the group to play for India? that it was important that the drawal of tax exemptions on later in the day. education loans now available Congress general-secretary in-charge of Yes 50% No 50% BJP, in an election year, sends out the right political message under Section 80E and on med- UP Motilal Vora and party president Sonia • The poll reflects the opinions of Net users who chose to participate, and not necessarily of the general public. to its constituents. ical expenses under Section Gandhi’s political secretary,Ambika Soni, The Rajnath Singh report — 80DDB as well as withdrawal of in New Delhi, claimed there had been no Today’s question: Do you think the which was released on Tues- standard deductions for the split. They said Tripathi had notified anti-defection law in its present form is salaried class. Singh as an ‘‘unattached member’’. After inadequate to prevent horse-trading? day by Naidu — rejects Kelkar’s proposal on lifting tax The report adds that exemp- Singh’s expulsion, the Congress’ strength Cast your vote on sops on savings, housing loans tions to the small scale sector was reduced to 23.