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LATECITY I NEWDELHI I FRIDAY I NOVEMBER7 I 2008 I 24+6 (NEWSLINE)PAGES I Rs.3.00Dailyfrom AHMEDABAD I CHANDIGARH I DELHI I JAMMU I KOLKATA I LUCKNOW I MUMBAI I NAGPUR I NEWYORK (WEEKLY) I PUNE I VADODARA

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PETERBAKER& JEFFZELENY

NEW YORK,NOVEMBER 6

PRESIDENT-ELECTBarackObamabegantomovetobuildhisadministrationandmakegoodonhisambitious

promisestopointtheUSinadifferentdirection,ashiscommandingvictoryre-orderedtheAmericanpoliti-

callandscapeandtransfixedmuchofAmericaandthe world.

A day after becoming the firstAfrican-American to capture the

presidency,Obama an-nounceda transitionteamandpreparedtonamean

allyashisWhiteHousechiefofstaffinhisfirststepstowardassumingpower.PresidentBush

vowed to work closely with Obamatoensurea smoothtransitionin thefirsthandoversincethe attacks ofSeptember11, 2001.

RepresentativeRahm Emanuel ofIllinois,thefourth-rankingHouseDe-mocratandaclosefriendofObamas

fromChicago,wasofferedthe jobofWhiteHouseChiefofStafflateintheevening(Indiatime)camethenewsthathehadacceptedtheoffer.

ObamanamedJohnDPodesta,theformerClintonWhiteHousechiefofstaff,toleadhistransitionteamalongwithValerieJarrett,a longtimead-viser,and PeteRouse,hisSenatechiefofstaff.

InturningtoEmanuelandPodesta,

Obamasoughtouttwoof thehard-est-hittingveteransofPresidentBill

CONTINUED ONPAGE 2

VERDICT08, PAGES12AND13

PAGE1ANCHOR

FiveJD(U)MPstoquit today

NEWDELHI: TheJanataDal(U)hassaidits fiveLok SabhaMPs

fromBiharwill resignFriday toprotestthe attackson NorthIn-diansin Maharashtra.Theywillsubmitresignationsto theLokSabhaSpeaker,JD(U)MPandparliamentarypartyleaderPrabhunathSingh said. PAGE3

JurassicParkauthorMichaelCrichtondies

LOSANGELES:Americanau-thorMichaelCrichton,whowrote TheAndromedaStrainand JurassicParkandcreatedthepopularTV dramaER,diedofcancerTuesday.Themedicaldoctor-turned-novelist andfilmmakerwas 66.PAGE 13

DayafterUmaslap,moreBJSworkersquit

CHHINDWARA: AdayafterBharatiyaJanaShaktipartypresidentUma Bharti slappedapartyworker, thepartysChhindwaradistrict president,NemiChandVerma,quitalongwith350 workers,includingseveraloffice bearers.

SBIcutsrates, loanswillbecheaper

NEW DELHI: StateBankof In-diahas cutboth lendinganddepositrates.The primelend-ingrateis down0.75%to13%.PAGE 17

QuickTAKES

PRANABDHALSAMANTA

NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER6

WHILETHE Armytriesto cometo termswith

the arrest of its intelligence officer Lt ColPrasad Shrikant Purohit in the Malegaonblasts, the Maharashtra police have claimed

thattheofficerwasnotanaidebutthekingpinwhoallegedlyforgeddocumentsduringhis stint inJammu & Kashmirforobtainingarmslicencesforothers.

According to the Mumbai ATS, which has passed on therelevantinformationto Armyauthorities,Purohitduringhisstay in J&K some time in 2004-05 obtained these licenceswithwhich weaponswere procuredand handedover toAb-hinav Bharat members. As a founder of the organization,sourcessaid,heisallegedtohaveprovidedweapons,ammu-nitionand explosivesthatwereused fortraining.

ItmaybenotedthattheATShasclaimedthatoneoftheaccusedwas askedbyPurohittokeep someweapons whichhe had arranged. The police have apparently traced howthese weaponswerepurchased withthehelpof forgeddoc-uments.

Infact, investigationdetails sharedwith intelligenceagen-cies show that he even held a training camp a couple ofmonthsagoin Panchmarhiwherehewaspostedonlyin July-August.According toM aharasthtrapolice, 54 membersa t-tendedthe Panchmarhi trainingcamps where theywereal-

legedlytrainedin handlingarmsand explosives.HeissaidtohaveheldsimilarcampsnearPune,andtook

leavetoattendmeetingsin BhonsalaMilitarySchool whichemerged asthe hubfor Abhinav Bharatactivities.Authoritieshavebeen toldthat investigatorssuspectthat onemore serv-ingArmyofficermay beinvolved,thoughthereis noofficialintimationyet.

Notjustthat,ATS officialshavealso allegedthat Purohitwas in touch with a Bangladeshi Hindu militant outfit andhadheldameetinginthisconnectionatKolkata.Whilethisangleisstillunderprobe,policehavetoldtheArmythatthenetwork was spreading quickly even though it had startedonlyafewyearsback.

MALEGAON Held camp inMP, talkswith BanglaHindumilitants, forgery in J&K

Lt Col is keyman, fakedpapers forarms: ATS

SUBRATANAGCHOUDHURY

THIMPHU,NOVEMBER6

HISMAJESTYJigmeKhesarNam-gyelWangchuckwascrownedKingofBhutaninanelaboratefour-hourcer-emonythatbeganinsub-zerotemper-ature at the sprawling Tashichhod-dzongfortressearlythismorning.The28-year-old succeedshis father KingJigme Singey Wangchuck as theworldsyoungestmonarchandfifthintheroyal linethathasruledBhutanforoverahundredyears.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi,Priyanka Vadra and Robert Vadrawere among the very few guests inthe Throne Room of the Tashich-hodzong,wheretheactualcrowning

took place. PresidentPratibha Patiland External Affairs MinisterPranabMukherjeetoowerepresent.

53-year-old King Jigme Singeysteppeddownin favourofhis soninDecember2006and,sixmonthsago,Bhutanbecametheyoungestdemoc-

racyin the world. Prime MinisterJigme Y Thinley refused to allowmedia questionson comparisonsbetween father and son:Bhutanese will never compareandjudge Kings.ThefifthKingissimilartohisfather.ThefifthKingwillbeas greatasthefourth.

He also warded off queries onthe young monarchs bachelor-hood: Yes, you all know he issmart and should be marryingsoonerthanlater.Icannotanswerbeyondthat,JigmeThinleysaid.

The Oxford-educated King issaidtobeamanofmodernthink-ing who, however, remains loyalto Bhutanese traditions. Today,from thetimeof hisarrival tothe

Tashichhodzong in a processionthat included warrior dancers,monks, civil servants and bare-foot dancers from Ha, borderingChina, the young King wentthrougheachritual witha meticu-louskeenness.

Bhutan crowns new King: 28,

modern, deeply traditional

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel

Wangchuck was crowned King of

Bhutan in Thimphu Thursday.

ANOTHER REPORT, PAGE 8

DKSINGH

NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER6

PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh issaid to have turned down the demandfor a judicial inquiry into the BatlaHouse police encounter as raised by asection of the ruling Congress and allySamajwadiParty.He conveyedthisto aCongressMP whomethim yesterdaytoaskforaprobe.

ThePMsaiditisnotpossibletohavean inquiry in the Batla House case,CongressMP RaashidAlvi toldThe In-

dianExpress today.Sourcessaid theGovernmentsargu-

ment is that the case is in court and or-dering a probe into the encounter where a policeofficer was also killedcouldprejudiceit. Andthat policeinves-tigation has yielded a wealth of crucialevidencethatwillanywayshaveto with-standjudicial scrutiny.

Alvidisagreed.I toldthe PM thatif aCabinet Minister like Kapil Sibal haddoubtsaboutthe encounter,it would bebetterifan inquiryisconducted.WhenaBihari youth who had a pistol in hand iskilledinMumbai,alltopleadersincludingLaluPrasad Yadav, Meira Kumar,RamVilasPaswanandNitishKumarcometo-getherandthenaninquiryissetup.Herethereare somany peoplehavingdoubtsabout police encounter but nothing isdone. Whatistheproblem inholdinganinquiry into Batla House encounter?Truthwillcomeout,saidAlvi.TheRajyaSabhamembersaidthathewouldwritetothePMagaintoaskforaninquiry.

There are some in the Congress ner-vous about what they call the potentialfalloutofthe encounterin theelections.AICC GeneralSecretaryDigvijaySinghsaidtherewereseveralquestionsbeingraised about the police encounter andtheyneededto beaddressedby thegov-ernment. Many leaders even met Con-gresspresidentSoniaGandhi toseekher

intervention. Among those who wentpublic with their doubts were AICCGeneralSecretaryMohsinaKidwai,se-nior leader Salman Khursheed, AICCminority department chairman Imran-ur-RehmanKidwai andAICC SecretaryParvezHashmi.

Cong MP saysPM told him noprobe in Jamia

encounter

Dayafter: ObamasealshisChief ofStaff, hisaides tampdownTheGreatExpectation

SURAT: TheMumbaiATShasdetaineda HinduJagranManchmember,SunilDhawadi,a residentofAm-

bapadavillagein Dangs,whowas earlierassociatedwithSwami AshimanandjiMaharajs ashram.Dhawadi,whowaspickedupfromVapion Wednesdayaf ter-noon,has beentakentoMumbaifor questioning. Ac-cordingto sources,Male-gaonblasts suspectSadhviPragyaThakurwas closetotheSwami,who isreportedto havegone undergroundafterherarrest.PAGE2

HindugroupsjoinhandsforlegalaidPUNE: Hindugroups herehavecometogetherto formaHinduLegalAidFirmtoprovidefreelegalaidto theMalegaonblastsuspects andtoany Hinduwho,they

claim,is metedout injus-ticebythe police.Announcingthis onThursday,HemaniSavarkar,presidentofthe HinduMahasabha,saidabankac-count inthe nameofHinduLegalAidFirmhasbeen openedinDelhi.Thefirmwillraisefundsforprovidingfreelegalaidto theHinduswhowouldbefalselyimplicatedinterroracts,Savarkarsaidinthe presenceofrepresentativesof Hindugroups.

HINDUJAGRANMANCHMANDETAINEDINGUJARAT

INDIAN-AMERICANONADVISORYBOARDWASHINGTON: Indian-AmericanSonalShah,40, whoheadsGooglesphilan-thropicarm, hasbeenappointedan advi-soryboardmemberby USPresident-electBarackObamato assist histeamin thesmoothtransitionofpower. Shahcurrentlyworks forGoogle.orgwheresheis en-gagedin definingtheirglobaldevelop-ment strategy andpromotingthe firmsphilanthropicwork.

BeforeGoogle,shewas VicePresidentat

GoldmanSachs. PTI

Pratibha Jha, younger

sister of Sadhvi Pragya

Singh Thakur outside the

Mumbai ATS office on

Thursday. PTI

PEACE TRAIN: Six thousand Muslim clerics from all over India are gathering in Hyderabad for a seminar on national integration. About half of them are

taking the Sheikh-ul-Hind train from Deoband in Uttar Pradesh and passing through the heart of central India. REPORT, PAGE 9

PVAIDYANATHANIYER

NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER6

TO ease the liquidity crunch, theReserve Bank of India and the Fi-nance Ministry will soon allowbankstoavail ofa refinancefacilitybydepositingtheircorporate bondholdingsas collateral.

The proposal, pushed by somestate-ownedandprivatesectorbanks,wasdiscussedrecentlyby thegovern-mentandtheRBI.Afavourableviewhasbeentaken,agovernmentofficialtoldTheIndianExpress.

As on March 31,2008, totalbankinvestmentin corporatebonds ises-timated to be about Rs 80,000crore.State-ownedand privatesec-tor companies issue interest-bear-

ing bonds to raise funds and theseare subscribed by banks, mutualfunds, insurance companies,

NBFCs,etc.While in most developed

economies, these are activelytraded in the secondary market, inIndia,the marketfor bonds hasnotdevelopedrenderingthem illiquid.

A bank chairman who recentlymetofficialsin thefinanceministryandtheRBIsaidthebasicproblemwas of liquidity. Corporate bondssit idle on bank balance sheets.Mostly, companies hold them tillmaturity. And the secondary mar-ket for corporate paper has nodepth.Itisvirtuallyabsent,hesaid.Indeed, daily trading in corporatepaperisjustaboutRs200crore.

To begin with, the RBI will ac-cept AAA-rated bonds of publicsector undertakings (PSUs) as col-

lateralin therepurchaseoperationsthrough its liquidityadjustment fa-cility,said theofficial.

Since these are exceptional cir-cumstances,and given thedemandforbankcredit,theRBIhas,inprin-ciple, agreed to widen the ambit ofits repo operations by acceptinghighqualitycorporatepaperascol-lateral.

Essentially, what this will do iscreate a market for corporatebonds,which otherwiseare illiquid.The rate at which the RBI lends tobankswithsuchbondsas collateralcouldbe atadhigherthanthereporateof7.5percentnow.

No.40FORSACHIN

NAGPUR: Sachin Tendulkarslammedhis 40thTestcen-tury, helping Indiareach

311/5at stumpsonDay1 inNagpur.Sachin nowhas 82internationalcenturies, in-cluding 42in One-Dayers.

REPORT, PAGE 19

RBI will allow banks to unlocktheir corporate bonds for cashAgrees to openrepowindow to accept high-quality corporate paper

Barack Obama leaves a gym in

Chicago on Thursday. AP

TASHITOBGYAL