Key Advani aide Sudheendra Kulkarni quits BJP

New Delhi, Aug 23: Sudheendra Kulkarni, a key aide to senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani and also to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has snapped his ties with the party over “major ideological differences”. “I have major ideological differences with the party. I want to be honest in my views and wish to maintain party discipline. So I decided to come out,” said Kulkarni, who wrote a magazine article criticising the BJP and its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after the party’s poll debacle. He, however, maintained that his decision to quit the BJP had nothing to do with the expulsion of Jaswant Singh over his book Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.

“I decided to end my association with the BJP several weeks back. I had conveyed this to Advani-ji also. My decision has nothing to do with the unfortunate incident of Jaswant Singh-ji,” Kulkarni told television channels. Kulkarni denied that the BJP was slipping into oblivion. “It is a very strong, a very resilient party...it will go from strength to strength,” said Kulkarni, a one-time Communist Party of India-Marxist card holder. He said he would continue to be a well-wisher of the party and added: “I have the highest regard for Advani-ji and Atal Bihari Vajpayee-ji, with whom I have worked for 13 years.” Kulkarni worked in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) during Vajpayee’s time and served as his speech writer, media adviser and political aide. “From now on, I will be totally independent. I will work with like-minded members of other parties...,” Kulkarni told a news channel. He, however, clarified he would not join any political party.

A new era of India-Arab economic ties dawns

New Delhi, Aug 23: As the world fights an economic downturn, a new dimension is being added to trade and business relations between India and the Arab world, enhancing centuries-old ties between two sides of the Arabian Sea. Though Arab countries, particularly the Gulf nations, have traditionally been looked at as an important source of oil and gas for India, today it has changed into cooperation across multiple sectors marked by cross-investments from both sides.

Following the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between India and the Arab countries during a visit of Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the League of Arab Nations to India late last year, the two sides are in the process of putting in place a structure of multi-faceted cooperation. India is also working on sealing a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which has Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as its members. Nothing reflects the rapidly growing ties between the two sides across multiple sectors more than trade figures. Of India’s total international trade to the tune of $414.54 billion in 2007-08, Arab countries accounted for 20.99 per cent. Within the Arab world, India’s trade with the GCC nations alone rose to $66.75 billion in 2007-08, or 16.1 per cent of the country’s total global trade. And within the GCC, the country’s trade with the UAE increased to $29.11 billion in the same period, making it India’s largest trading partner after China and the US.