Indian Express front page, June 20, 1997
The shadow boxing in the Karnataka Congress transformed itself into an open confrontation between Chief Minister Devraj Urs and his detractors in the party. Food and Civil Supplies Minister and the kingpin of the dissident group, K.H. Patel, demanded disciplinary action by the High Command against Urs for his assertion that there should be a total cleansing of the top leadership of the party for the sake of its survival.
Charan Singh in J&K
Union Home Minister Charan Singh told a Janata Party election meeting in Srinagar that the Centre was determined to ensure the coming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir would be free and fair. He referred to recent incidents of violence in the Valley and said, amidst cheers, that attempts to interfere with the elections would be dealt with a firm hand. Singh, the first top-flight Janata leader to campaign in the Valley, assured that Article 370 of the Constitution, which confers a special status on the state, would remain untouched. Those spreading the word that the Janata Party wants it to be abrogated were misleading the people to bag votes, he said. PM Morarji Desai and External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee have stated unequivocally that the Article would stay as long as the people of the state wanted it, he said.
Pak Polls In October
Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Pirzada said in Lahore that fresh general elections will be held in Pakistan in the first week of October — the issue which caused the country’s worst political crisis. The minister, a close confidant of PM Bhutto, was addressing People’s Party supporters in central Punjab.
Pantagon’s Pak Trade
Pentagon notified US Congress that it plans to sell $52.7 million worth of military equipment, including a variety of military radio sets. Congress is not expected to object.
