Eight Serial bomb blasts in Bangalore

A woman was killed and at least six people were injured in a series of five low-intensity blasts carried out in eastern parts of the information technology capital this afternoon.

The woman, who was waiting at a bus shelter in Madivala on the Bangalore-Hosur road, was killed in the blast and her husband and another person were seriously injured, police said.

Bangalore was rocked by a major terrorist attack in December, 2005 when extremists opened fire in the famous Indian Institute of Science complex in which a Delhi IIT professor lost his life.

There were also blasts in other areas like Panthrapalya, Audugodi and Vittal Mallya Road within minutes of each other from the first blast at around 1330 hours.

Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari appealed to the people of the city to maintain calm and carry on with their normal life as police have been put on alert throughout the city.

He said timer device has been used in some of the blasts and explosives in quantity equivalent to one or two handgrenades have been used in some others.

Bidari termed it as an "act of miscreants" trying to disturb peace in Bangalore and appeared pre-planned. "We will get to the criminals and arrest them," he said.

Bomb disposal squads and forensic experts have rushed to the spot for investigations.

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/2008/07/25155143/Serial-bomb-blasts-rock-Bangal.html

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Indian government wins confidence vote - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government won a vote of confidence in parliament on Tuesday, ensuring the survival of the ruling coalition and a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.

The government said it would now push ahead with the pact, which would give India access to foreign nuclear fuel and technology and end decades of isolation, as well as work towards reforms to liberalize the trillion-dollar economy.

"This will send a message to the world at large that India's head and heart is sound, that India is prepared to take its rightful place in the comity of nations," Singh told reporters. "I have always said the deal was important and now we know it."

The United States welcomed the support for the deal in India's parliament.

"We will work closely with the government of India in the days ahead for a rapid completion of the ratification process through the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the U.S. Congress," David C. Mulford, the U.S. ambassador to India, said in a statement.

The Indian government's joy at its victory was tempered by a bribery scandal, after opposition lawmakers interrupted the debate to wave wads of cash to protest against what they said were bribes offered by the government to abstain.

The furor was described as one of the lowest points in parliamentary history, and led to fresh demands for Singh to resign, and catcalls preventing him from delivering his concluding remarks after the two-day debate.

The run-up to the confidence vote in the world's largest democracy was marked by both sides wooing regional and caste-based parties.

The government even renamed an airport to honor the father of a wavering lawmaker. Others, in jail for murder and extortion, were freed for a few days to cast their votes. Some ill members were wheeled in on hospital beds.

But in the end, the government won more comfortably than expected, by 275 votes to 256 with 10 abstentions.

Investors had expected a narrow win for the government, and said the victory could boost markets. The main share index has risen by more than 12 percent in the last four sessions.

"The next task for the government will be how much it will be able to push through on the reforms front," said Agam Gupta, head of trading at Standard Chartered Bank in Mumbai.

"Stocks should start on a strong footing and bonds will also get bought. This is a positive for all the asset markets."

But it will not be plain sailing for Singh.

"The bribery scandal will come back. Expect an opposition offensive in the coming weeks," said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan.

Nevertheless, analysts said the government should now survive until the end of its term, with polls due by next May.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3264707.cms

Cash-for-vote: BJP MPs allege bribe by SP

The Intelligence Bureau took away for questioning the three BJP MPs who today claimed they were offered crores by senior Samajwadi Party leaders to abstain from voting.

Sources said that if the Speaker felt the need for a more thorough probe, a CBI inquiry could be ordered.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee handed over the cash that the MPs waved in the House — they said it was Rs 1 crore — to Delhi police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal.

Sources in the Intelligence Bureau said the three men had told investigators that Morena MP Ashok Argal was the first to be approached by Samajwadi leader Amar Singh. Argal’s constituency is going to be affected by delimitation and he had been promised an Assembly seat instead.

“He was apparently told he was anyway going to be without any constituency in the next Lok Sabha elections. This is perhaps the last time he would be in the House, so he might as well make money and abstain from voting,” an IB official said. He was given Rs 1 crore as advance and offered another Rs 2 crore after the voting, the MPs told investigators.

“Argal had also been asked to get some more MPs on board. He called Mahavir Bhagora and bragged about the money he had got. Now Bhagora, according to what they have been saying, informed L.K. Advani. When the BJP leader questioned Argal, he said he was trying to expose the SP and the Congress. He claimed even Congress leader Ahmad Patel was in touch with him,” the official said, giving the MPs’ version.

With Advani’s go-ahead, the two got Faggan Singh Kulaste, MP from Mandla in Madhya Pradesh, on board and did a sting operation along with a television channel.

The channel, CNN-IBN, however, said it did not telecast the tapes because some loose ends were yet to be tied. The tapes would be handed over to the Speaker, it added.

In 2005, a sting operation by another channel had caught Kulaste on camera demanding bribe for sanctioning local area funds.

Railway minister Lalu Prasad said the three MPs should be subjected to a narco-analysis test to check if they were speaking the truth. “Yeh sab jali hai. (This is all planted),” he said, even as the Opposition demanded the Prime Minister’s head.

source:http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080723/jsp/nation/story_9588492.jsp