INDIA TELECOM SCANDAL PARALYZES PARLIAMENT SESSION

[Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has rejected the opposition's demand because the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's federal investigating agency, already is looking into the scandal and the Supreme Court has been holding hearings on it.]

The Associated Press

AP – India's opposition Bharatiya Janata Party
leader Lal Krishna Advani, center, holds
a placard demanding …

NEW DELHI – India's parliament ended its paralyzed winter session Monday after four weeks that were largely devoid of work but filled with raucous opposition demands for an investigation into a telecom scandal that cost the country billions.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has rejected the opposition's demand because the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's federal investigating agency, already is looking into the scandal and the Supreme Court has been holding hearings on it.

Each sitting, noisy opposition lawmakers spilled onto the floor of parliament, chanted anti-government slogans and demanded a parliamentary committee be formed to investigate. The speaker then adjourned proceedings until the next day, hoping for a resolution.

The furor centered on the 2008 sale of second-generation, or 2G, cellular licenses in a bewildering "first-come, first-served" process that netted India only 124 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) and awarded some license to ineligible participants who in turn sold their stakes at a high premium. The state auditor general reported last month the government lost as much as $36 billion in potential revenue by not auctioning the licenses.

The leader of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was unapologetic Monday for the impasse.

Sometimes blocking legislative action "also yields results," Lal Krishna Advani said. He apparently was referring to the fact that even members of the Singh government have backed the opposition demand, in an embarrassment for the prime minister.

Legislation that parliament didn't address before its two-month recess involved issues such as banking, prisoners, teaching, a raging Maoist insurgency and sexual harassment. Only crucial spending bills were approved, but by voice vote rather than full debate.

The opposition wants a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate because it would have the power to call Cabinet members to testify, and opposition lawmakers say they don't trust the government to conduct a proper investigation of its own bungled licensing process.

Singh refused to budge, saying such a committee can do nothing more than the existing mechanisms.

"I am worried about the future of the parliamentary system in the country. I hope reason will prevail," he told reporters over the weekend.

The scandal already has forced the resignation of then-Telecoms Minister Andimuthu Raja. He has denied any wrongdoing.

The Supreme Court has been holding hearings on what went wrong and is expected to rule within weeks.

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SONIA GANDHI LAMBASTS INDIA'S OPPOSITION

India Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi has bitterly criticised the opposition BJP at the end of a parliamentary session devoid of work.

Addressing the Congress parliamentary party on the last day of the winter session of parliament, she accused the BJP of "denigrating parliament". She said the alliance of opposition parties were "overlooking, brushing aside or supporting... corruption".

The opposition almost daily disrupted the four-week parliamentary session. The alliance of opposition parties led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organised regular walkouts in protest over numerous corruption scandals, most prominent of which was the resignation of the telecoms minister last month following allegations that he had undersold billions of dollars worth of mobile phone licences.

The opposition is angered by the government's refusal to hold a joint inquiry into the scandal.  At each parliamentary sitting, noisy opposition lawmakers spilled onto the floor of parliament, chanted anti-government slogans and demanded a parliamentary committee be formed to investigate.

The Speaker then adjourned proceedings until the next day, hoping for a resolution.  Senior BJP leader LK Advani justified the tactics, arguing that sometimes blocking legislative action "yields results". The government has rejected the opposition's demand for a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the telecoms scandal, arguing that the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Supreme Court are both looking into it.
@ BBC News South Asia

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NEPAL'S EX-PRINCE PARAS SAYS HE TOOK TO FIRING FOR NATIONAL, SELF-PRIDE

[Shah, who is notorious for his idiosyncratic abruptness and turbulence and drinking habit, had attacked Koirala’s son-in-law Rubel Choudhary and fired a gun shot in air to threaten him. Choudhary, a Bangladeshi national, had reached the popular tourist destination with wife, son and a few friends to make holiday.]

The Himalayan News Service

KATHMANDU: Former Crown Prince Paras Shah on Monday admitted that he had a scuffle with the son-in-law of Deputy Prime Minister Sujata Koirala in Tiger Tops in Chitwan on Saturday night, and said the incident was provoked by “derogatory remarks” against him, his family and Nepal by “two foreign nationals”.

READ ALSO: Tipsy Paras gets trigger happy at Tiger Tops, Nepal Army calls back Paras' guards

Shah, who is notorious for his idiosyncratic abruptness and turbulence and drinking habit, had attacked Koirala’s son-in-law Rubel Choudhary and fired a gun shot in air to threaten him. Choudhary, a Bangladeshi national, had reached the popular tourist destination with wife, son and a few friends to make holiday.

In a statement circulated to the media outlets from what appear to be recently created email addresses--concernnepal@yahoo.com and nirmalniwasmaharajgunj@yahoo.com-- this morning, Shah without mentioning anybody’s name said that he took to the firing after a Bangladeshi national and an Indian national started affronting him, his family and Nepal using derogatory words despite his efforts to conciliate them during a discussion on his past roles and the institution he represent.

Shah claimed he had no malicious intent while firing in the air.

“I along with my family, on our way home from Sarlahi and Dhading, had a stop-over at the Tiger Tops hotel and taking dinner when two foreign nationals reached out to me and started making irrelevant comments on my roles in yesteryears and the institution that I represent (erstwhile monarchy),” Paras has said in the statement issued in Nepali.

According to the media reports on Monday, an inebriated Paras intimidated Choudharya and his friend Shariq Lari, an Indian national, apparently for not giving him a company for a mid-night jungle safari after having differences over the Koirala family’s role in the abolition of the monarchy in the country.

Late Girija Prasad Koirala had played a key role in bringing the then rebel Maoists to the mainstream politics and end the age-long institution in the country after the establishment of country’s first Constituent Assembly in 2008. Choudhary is the husband of his grand daughter Melani.

“After half an hour of the debate, I fired a shot in air from my pistol in a fit of anger as I could not bear the insult of myself and the country,” he said, claiming that he did not intend to harm anybody or the property of the resort.