Ahemdabad, April 18
As the campaign ended today here, a veil of uncertainty hangs over the final outcome of the electoral exercise on Tuesday as there are strong indications that farmers of the state may turn their back on the Bharatiya Janata Party and Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

A number of middle-rank BJP leaders admit in private that millions of farmers are annoyed over the delay in distributing crop insurance money, power shortage and power tariff hike.

These factors in combination with the Chief Minister’s arrogance will play a crucial role in deciding the number of Lok Sabha seats that the BJP would get eventually, a leader said on condition of anonymity.

He hastened to add that results could have been devastating for the BJP if the Congress was in a position to exploit the factors of anti-incumbency and “indifferent” attitude of the Chief Ministers and his colleagues.

The Congress is in a total disarray, he pointed out adding, that it had no organisation and was divided into warring groups.

The power tariff has hike affected farmers in the state and delay in payment of crop insurance money for the failure of cotton and groundnut crops has made the matters worst.

Owing to a sever drought a year back, farmers, mainly from Saurashtra and North Gujarat, had lost their cotton and groundnut crops. Despite promises, the insurance money was distributed for cotton crop only 15 days back while disbursement for groundnut began on April 12 in Saurashtra.

The credibility of the political establishment is so low that farmers say that these payments have come only under electoral pressure and treat assurances as empty promises.

The outcome of 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Saurashtra and North Gujarat is at stake as the farmers are a dominant factor here.

Till a few weeks back, the BJP leaders, including the Chief Minister, were confident that the farmers were a reconciled lot and they would stay put with the party. BJP campaign chief Suresh Mehta had a few days back said that pro-farmer steps of “our government have ensured that the farmers are with us as they are out of the clutches of the middlemen and enjoy the benefits of the Kisan Credit Cards.”

But things are not as smooth as the BJP leaders wanted them to be. BJP candidates sense resentment among the farming community.

A social activist from Dhoraji, who has been working among Saurashtra farmers for the past 30 years, confirms this feeling.

Nagjibhai Vaghasia, who travels all over the Saurashtra and writes on their problems, says that “farmers are skeptical whether this insurance money would be disbursed once elections are over. Second, power supply plays truant seriously affecting their agriculture work”.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi had been raising kisan issues at her meetings. So was done by Mr Shankarsinh Vaghela in Kapadvanj, Mr Vithalbhai Radadia in Porbander, Mr Madhusudan Mistry in Sabarkantha, and Mr Harsinh Chavda in Banaskantha.

Before the elections, Mr Modi had tried to take the steam out of the farmers agitation by scaling down the power tariff hike from 3 per cent to 25 per cent, but much to his chagrin, farmers refused to accept the offer.

“There is no need to name the next person because the first person is very much there. There is no dearth of leadership in the party,” BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu told PTI in an interview onboard a special aircraft en route to Bidar yesterday where he addressed an election rally along with NDA convener and Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Mr Naidu’s comments came close on the heels of Mr Vajpayee disclosing in an interview to a news channel that the line of succession after him had been decided by the party and there was a consensus on who would replace him. Apparently unwilling to allow “successor issue” to affect the BJP’s poll campaign, Mr Naidu said, “We are in an election mode. We are focussed on poll success and not successor”.

Ridiculing the Opposition demand that the BJP spell out the name of successor, Naidu said, “They (the Congress) believe in dynasty. When they found that present leadership has failed to take off, they are now looking up to children (Rahul and Priyanka)”.

Naidu also strongly disapproved of the recent opinion polls giving a poor popularity rating for Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on the question of who would be the ideal candidate to lead the country.

“He (Advani) is not in the race (for Prime Ministership). So, question of dragging him into the rating is absurd. He is campaigning for Mr Vajpayee,” Mr Naidu said.

Differing with the Election Commission’s view that distribution of sarees in Lucknow, resulting in a stampede killing 22 women, amounted to violation of the poll code, he said his party would reply to the EC notice.

“The BJP was in no way involved in the event. Some individuals had organised the function in honour of Mr Lalji Tandon on his birthday. Neither the party nor its functionaries were involved in this,” he said.

Mahasamund, April 18
Rhetoric and accusations returned to Mahasamund on the last day of campaigning today, with both the Congress and the BJP making last-ditch efforts to leave an impression in the minds of voters.

Dr Renu Jogi, who got only a day for campaigning as her resignation from government service was accepted yesterday, went on a hectic tour of Mahasamund to seek support for her husband Ajit Jogi, admitted to a Mumbai hospital.

BJP’s V.C. Shukla sought to give a grand finale to his campaign by holding a rally in the heart of Mahasamund.

The campaign, silent and low-key since Mr Jogi was injured in a road accident, was not restrained today.

Sources said Congress activists distributed leaflets in villages, attacking Mr Shukla for not doing enough for Mahasamund in his years as MP.

They were also reported to have distributed ropes to hold cows among tribals in an apparent attempt evoke their sentiments over the inability of the BJP government to give them the promised cows.

The BJP leaders attacked the Congress for exhibiting posters of an injured Mr Jogi, saying the Congress had nothing else to show.

The BJP has been taking pains to tell villagers about its intention to honour all election promises. The Congress campaign in Mahasamund has suffered in the past two days due to lack of coordination.

Confusion about acceptance of Ms Jogi’s resignation did not let the party carve out a structured programme of campaigning.

Mr Shukla is not only getting support of BJP cadres, but his supporters from all over the state, including the lone NCP MLA in state assembly, Mr N.K. Varma, are working for him all over the constituency.

Mr Shukla told The Tribune here that the election was expensive for him due to the money prowess of Mr Jogi, but expressed optimism about winning.

BJP workers in the constituency are diligently distributing voter slips to the people in the constituency. Observers here feel that Mr Jogi’s absence from the scene has affected the Congress campaign.

“Work by Congressmen is not being properly monitored,” said Mr Surinder Singh, a local resident.

Mumbai, April 18
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee dropped a bombshell at an election rally in Nagpur yesterday when he told the audience that he was ‘tired of running a coalition government’.

Addressing his last rally in Maharashtra before the first round of polling, Mr Vajpayee quoted as saying the Bharatiya Janata Party was looking for a majority on its own.

“I am worried. Will we have a 22-party coalition again? It will not be good. I am asking all of you to help us and be prepared. We need security in this country. There may be an international crisis any time,” television channels quoted Mr Vajpayee as saying at the rally in Nagpur.

Mr Vajpayee’s statement comes amid opinion polls that show the BJP doing well on its own. The party is expected to exceed its tally of 180 seats it holds in the current Lok Sabha. However, several of its allies that are part of the National Democratic Alliance like the Telugu Desam Party are expected to lose seats.

Mr Vajpayee’s statement came at the fag end of campaigning for the first phase of elections, to be held on Tuesday. Campaigning in Nagpur and other seats came to an end this evening for elections to 24 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra.

The Prime Minister also said he was hurt by accusations by the Congress that he was a traitor during the Quit India Movement in 1942.

New Delhi, April 18
Social activist Swami Agnivesh today charged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with indulging in “political and emotional blackmail” on “fear of losing the elections”.

He said eminent lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani would contest the elections even though the Prime Minister had asked him to withdraw from the race in Lucknow on grounds that both of them were possibly contesting the last poll.

“Such kinds of blackmailing will not help the BJP”, Swami Agnivesh said. He was fasting at the residence of Mr Jethmalani urging him to contest against Mr Vajpayee.

“He will not give in to the pressure that the Prime Minister is trying to exert,” he said and alleged that BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had fallen prey to political blackmail.

Raipur, April 18
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said yesterday there was no sympathy wave in favour of Congress candidate Ajit Jogi in Mahasamund.

The Chief Minister told mediapersons here that everyone was concerned about Mr Jogi’s health. “The concern about his health is shared by all of us. It is human to feel concerned. But the election is being fought on political issues, he said.

Asked if posters showing Mr Jogi in a hospital bed at Mumbai put up by the Congress in Mahasamund violated election norms the Chief Minister said that showed his health status. “The Congress had nothing else to show except such posters,” he added.

He claimed the BJP would win 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state. He compared Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s road visit to Chhattisgarh with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani’s Bharat Uday Yatra. While Mr Advani had drawn huge crowds and addressed press conferences, Ms Gandhi had merely waved her hand at the gatherings.

Claiming an Atal wave” in the state, Dr Raman Singh was hopeful of winning the byelection from Dongergaon with a comfortable margin. He said the Congress had no issue and its leaders were talking of promises which were to be fulfilled in five years. “We will fulfil all election promises,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Ajit Jogi’s wife has tendered her resignation from the health services and had been visiting temples in Mahasamund.

Congress workers are moving in Mahasamund with audio cassettes of Mr Jogi’s speeches and video-recording of his message from a Mumbai hospital. Relations of BJP candidate V.C. Shukla with the Nehru-Gandhi family. are seen to be strained and people here feel that Ms Gandhi is keen on winning the seat.

Kolkata, April 18
Mr Pranab Mukherjee claimed that the Congress had to sacrifice a few seats in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa for the CPI(M) and the CPI for the party’s future. He said the Congress would not field any candidate in these states so that they could establish better post-poll relations with the Left parties after the election. The decision was taken after reviewing the present political situation vis-à-vis the formation of a secular government at the Centre with the participation of these Left parties.

The Congress working committee leader at the “meet the press” at Press Club here recently, elaborated the party’s poll strategy at the national-level .

Mr Mukherjee accused the BJP of reviving the Bofors issue, which had been already “resolved” by clearing the involvement of Rajiv Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi in the scandal. He said it was a matter of regret that the Vajpayee government had taken a decision on the basis of a newspaper report without verifying its authenticity.

The Congress leader said in West Bengal, they would fight against the CPI(M) as well as the Trinamool Congress since the situation prevailing in the state was quite different.

In West Bengal, the CPI (M) as well as Trinamool Congress were our main enemies and hence we would fight against both the parties, he added.

Meanwhile, the VHP Vice-President, Swami Giriraj Kishore, at a gathering in Siliguri, 659 km from here, said Sonia Gandhi was a respectable Indian housewife but she was not a suitable person to assume the Prime Minister’s post.

Lucknow, April 18
The Congress has appealed to the Chief Electoral Officer to debar Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from contesting the Lok Sabha elections as the Election Commission has found the BJP prima facie guilty of violating the model code of conduct in Lucknow, from where Mr Vajpayee is contesting.

Mr Siraz Mehandi, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee secretary, told mediapersons that after the Election Commission had filed an FIR against Mr Lalji Tandon, in charge of Mr Vajpayee’s election campaign, for violating the model code of conduct, it was proved that he (Tandon) had done it at the insistence of Mr Vajpayee.

Solapur, April 18
Lashing out at the Congress extending support to Mr Ram Jethmalani, BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan today sought to know if Congress President Sonia Gandhi knew that “the candidate she was supporting from Lucknow was defence counsel of the murderers of her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi.”

Mr Mahajan, who was here in connection with electioneering for the Pandharpur and Solapur constituencies said “is Sonia aware of the fact that Jethmalani, who is contesting against Prime Minister from Lucknow as an Independent, was the defence lawyer of Indira Gandhi’s murderers?”

Gulbarga, April 18
A Congress worker died and several others, including the son of a Karnataka Minister, were injured when alleged BJP activists pelted stones at them in Sonna village in this district, the police said today.

The police said the worker, who had sustained serious head injuries in last night’s incident, died at Government Hospital in Jewargi today. Tension prevailed in Jewargi town and some other parts of the assembly constituency as the news of the death spread.

Mr Ajay Singh, son of Karnataka Public Works Minister Dharam Singh, and others were injured in the incident. The vehicle used by them was also damaged in the attack.

New Delhi, April 18
The Supreme Court has expressed concern over the safety of judicial officers in “lawless” state like Bihar in the wake of an attack on a Sessions Judge in open court in Bhagalpur by none other than police officials six years ago.

Dismissing the appeals of nine of the 14 police officials allegedly involved in the attack, against the Patna High Court order initiating contempt proceedings against them, the apex court said: “The administration in Bihar is expected to ensure that no such incident take place in future.”

A Bench of Mr Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice Ashok Bhan directed the trial court and an inquiry commission to expedite their proceedings against the police officials, who had assaulted the Sessions Judge on November 18, 1997, within six months and submit their reports immediately thereafter to the Supreme Court Registrar General.

The court also expressed shock over the manner the issue was being handled by the state authorities.

“We trust and hope that this case will set in motion the thinking process of the persons occupying higher echelons in the police administration in Bihar,” the Bench said.

The police officials had attacked Bhagalpur Additional District and Sessions Judge D.N. Barai for his taking tough action against their colleague Jokhu Singh, after he had failed to appear before his court as a witness in a case despite the repeated summons and warrants. He instead had tried to influence the Judge when warrants were issued against him, the apex court said.

When he was sent to judicial custody after his appearance was secured through warrant, the accused police officials had barged into the Judge’s court room and attacked him and even chased him into his chamber, where he was again beaten, it observed.

The Bihar Government had subsequently set up an inquiry commission to look into the matter, but it was not making any progress to complete its findings, the court said.

“The judges are — as a jurist calls — paper tigers. They do not have any machinery of their own for implementing their order. People, while approaching the court of law which they regard as a temple of justice, feel safe and secure while they are in the court,” the Bench said, pointing out that in this case the safety of the Judge was under threat.

“Jokhu Singh and his confederate decided to take law in their hands and assaulted the Judge and anyone who came in their way. We do not think that any of the appellants deserve any sympathy or mercy,” the Bench said.

The court further directed the Chief Justice of Patna High Court to monitor the progress of the case before the trial judge as well as the proceedings before the inquiry commission to ensure speedy disposal of the case.

Kolkata, April 18
Acting Chief Metropolitan Magistrate C.H. Karim today rejected the bail prayer of Acharya Tadbhavanand Avadhoot, alias Lal Chand Parihara, an Ananda Margi, and remanded him to jail custody for a day in connection with the Purulia armsdrop case.

The magistrate also ordered that he be produced before the ninth Metropolitan Magistrate tomorrow.

The accused was produced in the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court pursuant to a Delhi Court’s granting a CBI transit remand to the accused on April 16 .

The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Delhi, Mr Ravinder Dudeja, had directed that the accused be produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Kolkata on April 18.

Mumbai, April 18
The police in neighbouring Thane district today raided Dagdi chawl — the fortress of underworld don Arun Gawli — to search for Corporator Sunil Ghate, wanted in connection with a threatening case filed at Badlapur.

However, Mr Ghate, a close confidant of Mr Gawli and only corporator of his political outfit, Akhil Bharatiya Sena, escaped before the police could reach him.

An award was also announced by “Dehali Kannadiga” in memory of Soundarya to be given to a distinguished Kannada film actress.

At a condolence meeting organised by the Kannada monthly published from Delhi, its editor and writer M.B. Samaga said, “Soundarya brought glory to Kannada cinema with her acting in ‘Dweepa’, which fetched her the national ‘Best Actress’ award in 2003.” A report from Bangalore said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has seized all documents pertaining to the ill-fated Cessna 180 aircraft, which crashed here yesterday killing four persons, including Soundarya, Director of Air Worthiness, G.T. Selvam told PTI here today. Another DGCA official Parameshwaran said the aircraft, a 1955 make, had undergone necessary tests and had been certified in January for flying.