New Delhi: In a blow for Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, the state Lokayukta has indicted the Delhi government and the Chief Minister for misusing public funds worth Rs 22 crore for an advertising blitz during the 2008 election. The Lokayukta has now appealed to the President to ask Dikshit to return Rs 11 crore to the state exchequer.
Lokayukta Justice Manmohan Sarin recommended President Pranab Mukherjee to administer "caution" to Dikshit for the alleged misuse of public funds for a series of advertisements carried out in print and outdoor media in 2007-08 with punchline "Delhi is changing". The petition was filed with the Lokayukta by BJP Leader Vijender Gupta, who has now called for Sheila Dikshit's resignation.
"It has been proven that state funds worth Rs 22 crore have been misused for Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the Congress party's political campaigns. The case should be investigated further. The money should be returned immediately. Sheila Dikshit must resign from the Chief Minister's post," Vijender Gupta said.
In his complaint, Gupta had charged Dikshit with abusing her position as Chief Minister by carrying out an advertisement campaign with a view to gain political mileage in the assembly election in 2008. Sheila Dikshit was holding charge of the Department of Information and Publicity when the advertisement campaign was carried out....
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09:30 AM, May 23, 2013
Paris: Seventh-ranked Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina has pulled out of the upcoming French Open because of a respiratory virus. Del Potro said in a statement on Wednesday that he has not fully recovered and not fit to play. American players Brian Baker and Mardy Fish have also pulled out. Baker has not recovered from a right knee operation and Fish is unfit because of heart problems. They will...
10:32 PM, May 22, 2013
Washington: The landmark immigration bill, which offers a path to citizenship for more than 11 million - including over 260,000 Indians - undocumented immigrants and increasing H-1B visas today passed its first legislative test. The Senate Judiciary Committee on the fifth day of its deliberations that included 300 amendments to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill - Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act - passed it by 13-5 votes....
12:16 PM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: A 27-year-old man committed suicide in Delhi on Tuesday, depressed over being beaten by his in-laws and his wife's refusal to return home from her parents' house. Lokesh, a makeup artist got married in 2012 to Sheetal, who works in a tour and travel company. However, differences started arising within a few months and having a child did not help matters either. According to Lokesh's family, Sheetal would...
06:00 AM, May 22, 2013
London: Internationally acclaimed Indian Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has won the grand prize at the prestigious Copenhagen International Sand sculpture festival in Denmark for his sculpture on environment. Pattnaik, who is from Orissa, won the prize for his sand sculpture 'Go Green, Save Earth'. He created the 15 feet-high sculpture in 7 days for the festival. Pattnaik, brand ambassador of NALCO said "Global warming affects the whole world. We have...
09:46 AM, May 21, 2013
Lucknow: An FIR was on Monday registered in Lucknow against social networking site Facebook on a complaint that claimed a group on the site exhorts people to slaughter cows, police said. The site was booked under penal provisions and under the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, on the complaint filed by senior police officer Amitabh Thakur. In his complaint filed at Gomtinagar police station, Thakur alleged that a Facebook group...
02:50 AM, May 21, 2013
The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is under pressure after two ministers named in the Jagan Reddy disproportionate assets case stepped down on Sunday night. Voices of dissent from within gained ground even as Jagan's wife Bharathi Reddy wrote to the Prime Minister, alleging the CBI probe is unfair and that her husband is being victimised. ...
08:44 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: With fresh details of alleged spot-fixing hitting headlines almost everyday, advertisers and sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL) hope the scandal would not affect viewership of the tournament and impact its brand value. Multi Screen Media (MSM), official broadcaster of the T20 format, said fixing of matches by players of a particular team would not impact the brand value and viewership of IPL matches. MSM President-Network Sales...
06:23 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: With Jaganmohan Reddy completing a year in jail after his arrest in a disproportionate assets case, his wife Bharathi on Monday attacked CBI, alleging it was controlled by partisan interests and had delayed probe to keep him in prison. Bharathi shot off a letter to CBI chief Ranjit Sinha alleging the investigation is being conducted in a "possibly politically motivated" manner and said that she had reasons to...
01:30 PM, May 20, 2013
CJ Ali Hussaini from Hyderabad sent this report revealing the money spent on dinners hosted by PMO. He got this information through an RTI that he had filed in this regard. ...
12:22 PM, May 20, 2013
Hyderabad: The two Congress Cabinet ministers, accused in Jagan Reddy disproportionate assets case, submitted their resignations to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Sunday night. Dharmana Prasad Rao and Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy met Kiran Kumar on Sunday night, who briefed them about his meet with Sonia Gandhi and other leaders regarding the opposition's demand for their resignations. Both the ministers, who had served in the...
11:59 PM, May 19, 2013
IPL chief and Union minister Rajiv Shukla has opposed his cabinet colleague Ajay Maken's demand to bring the BCCI under the RTI's ambit. ...
11:10 PM, May 19, 2013
Hyderabad: The Chief Minister, who returned from New Delhi on Saturday after a four-day visit during which he discussed the issue with the leadership, has summoned Rao to the state capital from his native Srikakulam district. Reddy, who is from neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, is already in Hyderabad, party sources said. The Chief Minister reportedly defended the ministers in his meeting with the Congress leadership. Kiran Reddy, who called on...
01:20 PM, May 19, 2013
Washington: As online titans compete to deliver instant maps to smartphones, the Library of Congress in Washington is focusing attention on an antique "cosmology" printed in 1507 that serves as America's birth certificate. The black-and-white map created by Martin Waldseemuller, a French cleric, was the first time the name America had appeared on any map. Waldseemuller was prescient enough to show the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean at a...
11:37 AM, May 19, 2013
Barcelona: Real Sociedad came back to win 2-1 at Sevilla and Valencia beat Getafe 1-0 on Saturday as both teams remained locked on points in their fight for a fourth-place finish in the Spanish league. Sociedad remained ahead of fifth-place Valencia on head-to-head goal difference and in control of Spain's last Champions League spot with two rounds to go. The Basque side fell behind 10 minutes in at Sanchez Pizjuan...
08:29 AM, May 19, 2013
Beirut: The United States chided Russia for sending missiles to the Syrian government as plans for a peace conference promoted by Washington and Moscow were hit by diplomatic rifts over its scope and purpose. Sectarian bloodshed in neighbouring Iraq during Friday prayers, a hacking attack on a Western newspaper by sympathisers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and defiant comments by a rebel commander filmed eating a slain soldier's flesh were...
07:35 AM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: Girls have once again outperformed boys in this year's ICSE Class-X and ISC Class-XII examinations the results for which were declared on Friday. In all, 98.78 per cent of girls and 97.73 per cent of boys passed the Indian Certificate for Secondary Education (ICSE) exam, while 96.66 per cent of girls and 93.91 per cent of boys passed the Indian School Certificate (ISC) examination. Anika Aggarwal, Simran Khanuja...
07:47 PM, May 17, 2013
Thiruvananthapuram: Tainted pacer S Sreesanth, arrested in spot-fixing allegation case, was on Friday dropped from the advertisement for the state run Kerala Lottery. Sreesanth, who appeared in the advertisement for 'Karunya Lottery', was removed from the celebrities advertisement panel, State Lottery Directorate officials said in Thiruvananthapuram. The Rajasthan Royal IPL team player along with two of his teammates were arrested by Delhi police on Thursday for alleged spot fixing in...
05:29 PM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: Will brand IPL take a hit after the new spot-fixing scandal? CNN-IBN takes a look at companies that are investing crores in the game. If the fall in ratings was not bad enough, the spot-fixing scandal has put the most successful cricket brand in a fix. Till now, tight matches kept bringing advertisers to come on board with bigger budgets. Official broadcaster Max is expected to rake in...
10:58 AM, May 17, 2013
Washington: The top general in the US Armed Forces warned of a crisis of confidence in the growing ranks of women soldiers due to a rash of sexual assault cases that has prompted lawmakers to act. The warning by Army General Martin Dempsey came hours before President Barack Obama asked military leaders at a White House meeting to get the problem of sexual assaults under control. "We're losing the confidence...
07:21 AM, May 17, 2013
