M A I N   N E W S

RAIPUR NOTES
Opposition leader’s daughter joins Congress
Satish Misra

Leader of the Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly Nand Kumar Sai, who lodged a police complaint against the kidnapping of his daughter Priyam Paikra, son-in-law Ishwar Sai and grandson yesterday, was in total disarray when he saw on a television channel that his own daughter had joined the Congress. Sai, who was in the 12th Lok Sabha, was hoping to be the Chief Minister after the Assembly election, found it hard to give any satisfactory explanation to the party high command. Consequently, he went public against Chief Minister Ajit Jogi accusing him of causing a rift in the family.

Krishnamurthi absent

While former BJP presidents Kushabhau Thakre and Bangaru Laxman were present at the National Executive meeting, K. Jana Krishnamurthi, who was unceremoniously removed from the post and subsequently from the union Cabinet also, was conspicuous by his absence. Party officials cited health reasons but others said he was still recovering from the insults. Similarly, former Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar’s absence did not go unnoticed.

Mahajan’s poll analysis

Party General-Secretary Pramod Mahajan’s 35-minute power point presentation on the strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections and the 2004 Lok Sabha elections was a novel feature at the BJP National Executive meeting today. Pramod Mahajan made a analysis of the past performance assuring the delegates that the party was on a firm wicket. Buttressing his point with statistics, he insisted that there was no reason that the party cannot win Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi provided the party rank and file worked hard and the leaders remained united. In the 1999 Lok Sabha election, the party and its present NDA allies had won 294 seats and come second in 164 seats. “So if we worked hard we can easily reach our target of 300 Lok Sabha seats and two third majority with the allies.” This has obviously enthused the delegates who are going back satisfied from Raipur with visions of capturing power in the four states coupled with a BJP government at the Centre in 2004.

Fan falls in PM’s guest house

Raipur, July 19
A ceiling fan fell and caught fire in a suite of the VIP guest house where Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is staying, prompting the officials to suspend an Executive Engineer for “breach of security” and order an inquiry into the incident.

The fan fell on a carpet last night and caught fire in a suite of the guest house allotted to Mr Vajpayee’s physician, official sources said here today. — PTI