Front page of Indian Express on March 8, 1978
Tirpude Clarifies
The Maharashtra deputy chief minister, N K Tirpude, declared that he and his party, Congress (I), agreed to have a coalition government in the state only when the chief minister, Vasantrao Patil, and other Congress leaders accepted the basic condition that the leadership of Mrs Indira Gandhi was acceptable to them. Tirpude said the discussions between the two Congresses were resumed in Bombay only when the Congress leaders agreed that the voters had now given a verdict in favour of Mrs Gandhi.
Cases Against Indira
The investigations of the two cases pending against Mrs Gandhi have been completed by the CBI and one of them has been referred to the Law Department, according to the Union Home Minister, Charan Singh. Addressing the media in the B S F Academy, about 32 km from Gwalior, Charan Singh said that the two cases are about the alleged acquisition of jeeps through “illegal means” for 1977 Lok Sabha elections and about granting of consultancy contract on Bombay High to a French firm.
China’s Correction
The party Vice-Chairman, Ye Jianying, told the Congress when he presented a draft copy last Wednesday that the new constitution was “designed for the new period of development in China’s socialist revolution and socialist construction”. Like its predecessors, the constitution says all power in China belongs to the people and was aimed at giving them a larger say in exercising authority. But it deleted the reference in the 1975 document that workers, peasants and soldiers were the main body of this power. The right to defence in a trial is now restored and any person can lodge complaints against “workers and have the right to appeal against any infringement of their rights”. The rights and interests of overseas Chinese continue to be protected. But the new document says this protection also now extends to relatives inside.
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