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Delhi voter is disillusioned
Tagore row a blot on Somnath’s
image
Feel good all the way for ‘Thayi’
Neck and neck in Gurdaspur Vimal Sumbly
Few women fielded in J-K
Making calculations on caste
factor
Looking for trends amid mafia
warning
GRAPHIC: Touch and go seats
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New Delhi, May 7 “We have no wish to go and vote. All politicians are corrupt. Now there is no difference between political leaders and
Kirane ki dukan’(grocery shops). They are selling our interests." Most voters also complained of lack of personal touch in the campaigning. This coupled with lack of a wave in favour of any particular party, was making the choice difficult for them as nobody was trying hard to convince them in their favour. “Candidates just zoom past in AC cars through our area. They don’t stop and come over to meet us or shake hands as used to be the practice in old days,’’
said Bankelal, a tailor in a posh New Delhi locality. Similar sentiments were repeated by Ashish in East Delhi who said that though the local MLA was campaigning for his party in the area, Lok Sabha candidate Sandeep Dikshit was yet to establish personal contact with the people. However, Sandeep might get some benefit of the goodwill generated by Congress MLA A K Walia. Sandeep’s rival sitting BJP MP Lal Bihari Tiwari seem to be getting the benefit of being a local candidate. The outsider versus local is also an issue in Chandni Chowk in the walled city where BJP candidate and television actor Smriti Irani and Congress candidate Kapil Sibal are locked in a keen contest. According to some, while Mr Sibal is a seasoned politician based here, Ms Irani’s availability to the people in the constituency after the poll was in doubt. “She may be a good actor, but if there is some problem in our constituency how will she find the time to come here,” said Mohammad Salim, a music shop owner. Age versus youth is also not an issue for the voters in the Capital. In New Delhi constituency where Congress candidate and Delhi Assembly Speaker Ajay Maken is projecting his “youth advantage” against veteran BJP leader and Union Minister Jagmohan, many people said age would not influence their choice. “Age is not a factor. Mr Jagmohan is a proven politician,” said Muthu Kumar, a government employee. Though government employees support Mr Jagmohan for the “work” done by the sitting MP slum dwellers in the constituency who were displaced recently in a slum clearance drive are disenchanted with both candidates. — UNI |
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Tagore row a blot on Somnath’s
image
At one stage, a section in the party wanted Chatterjee to succeed Jyoti Basu as Chief Minister. But later, the party decided to project him in national politics as its spokesperson in Parliament, a responsibility which he has been performing till today. Chatterjee contested the Lok Sabha election nine times and was defeated once only in 1984, when he lost to Ms Mamata Banerjee (then in the Congress) from Jadavpore. In 1989, he shifted to Bolpur and since then he has been successfully representing Tagore’s Santiniketan of Bolpur in Parliament. Chatterjee is again contesting for retaining the seat. The Bolpur constituency is composed of seven Assembly seats: Ausgram, Mangalkot (both in Burdwan district), Nanur, Labpur, Dubrajpur,Bolpur and Mayureswar, of which four belong to the CPM and the remaining three to the Congress and TMC. A total of 1043438 electorate will cast their votes to elect their candidate in parliament. The Congress has never been in a formidable position in Bolpur. In this election , Dr Nirmal Majhi, the young TMC leader has been selected by Ms Mamata Banerjee for taking on Chatterjee but even before the election, the candidate himself has conceded his defeat. “I know I am fighting a losing battle because we don’t have that manpower and machinery which could match the CPM. But still I am fighting in the hope that the elections will be free and fair and the people will have the opportunity to exercise their franchise and if that happens, my victory will not be a surprise,” Dr Majhi tells mediapersons. “But we all know that will not happen since the police and administration are working in collusion with the CPM to ensure Chatterjee’s victory,” Dr Majhi expresses his helplessness. Chatterjee, however, discounts the allegations as bogus and baseless. “The people have discarded the BJP and Trinamool Congress as communal forces and we are sorry for that,” Chatterjee regrets. “The people have voted us to power in Bengal for 26 years at a stretch because of our good governance,” he adds. But it will not be a cakewalk for Chatterjee this time because the people of Bolpur are not happy about what has been going on in Tagore’s Santiniketan in the name of development. Chatterjee is the chairman of the Santineketan Development Authority (SDA), an autonomous body, which, Tagore’s admirers allege, has been ruining this “abode of learning” in the name of development. They hold Chatterjee responsible for destroying Tagore’s Santineketan into a graveyard by inviting promoters, money-lenders and other vested interests who are allowed to flourish themselves in Santiniketan. The recent theft of Tagore’s Nobel prize medal and his other memorabilia from the Visva Bharati museum has been painful to all. On the contrary, Chatterjee blamed the Centre, particularly, the Human Resource Development Ministry for neglecting Visva Bharati which resulted in its deterioration. He denies as SDA chairman he has encouraged promoters and other vested interests which had been ruining the sanctity and serenity of the Tagore’s
Santiniketan. |
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Feel good all the way for ‘Thayi’
Indore (MP), May 7 Even in this searing heat, a huge crowed follows this motherly and gentle lady as she travels in a jeep through the lanes and bylanes of this modern city of Madhya Pradesh, also called by the locals as “mini-Mumbai”. Originally from Maharashtra, she has been an MP from this constituency for the past 15 years and is expected to make it to Parliament for the sixth time. Ms Mahajan, who virtually enamours the people here by her gentle smile and mannerisms, doesn’t speak a single word attacking the Congress or its President Sonia Gandhi. In her public and street corner meetings, Ms Mahajan only focusses on development, achievements of the BJP and the need to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the centre. But Ms Mahajan is not taking her Congress rival Rameshwar Patel lightly. ”One should not take the opponent lightly. Moreover, my target is to improve upon the victory margin of last time,” she told the Tribune at a campaign in the Indore-3 Assembly segment which was won by the Congress in the recent Assembly poll. Ms Mahajan had won the 1999 poll with a margin of over one lakh votes. Chief Minister Uma Bharti’s public meeting here has further boosted the BJP cadres. However, despite all odds, Rameshwar Patel of the Congress is trying hard to give a good fight to the BJP. The Congress is down but not out, considering the flurry of activity at the party polling office. As the sun sets, a group of young and old Congressmen could be seen sharing their views along with planning for next day’s campaign. Giving them the much-needed boost is Pankaj Sanghi, who gave the toughest fight to Ms Mahajan in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. Despite Congress central leadership’s indifference towards Madhya Pradesh, Congress loyalist Rameshwar Patel is busy focussing on his advantages. Mr Patel, who is the Chairman of a cooperative bank here, is concentrating on the Assembly where he has an advantage. |
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Neck and neck in Gurdaspur Vimal Sumbly
Gurdaspur, May 7 Although in the beginning the outgoing MP and the Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr Vinod Khanna appeared to have an edge over the five-time MP, Ms Bhinder, the two seem to be now evenly placed against each other as Ms Bhinder. If Mr Khanna has an edge in the Hindu-dominated urban areas, Ms Bhinder appears to be performing the balancing act in the rural areas. The BJP is undeterred by the fact that the Congress has eight MLAs of the nine in the Assembly segment. The Congress has even been claiming the support of the Independent MLA from the Dhariwal Assembly segment, Mr Sucha Singh Chhotepur. However, he continues to remain non-committal. He is considered to to be close to the Patiala House. But the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh addressed a few rallies here which got a good response. The AICC President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, also addressed a rally in her support at Pathankot. Whether it will translate into votes remains to be seen. Mr Khanna, on the other hand, feels confident. His supporters point out that Mr Khanna managed to win even in 1999 when there was a pro-Congress wave in the state. This time he has some advantages like the construction of Naushehra-Patan bridge, civil airport at Pathankot and some bridges in the constituency. Besides, the Vajpayee factor may also help him garner votes. While Ms Bhinder’s supporters have been accusing Mr Khanna of remaining inaccessible, the BJP workers have been asking in counter-argument as for how long Ms Bhinder remains in the constituency as she is mostly in Delhi. As she has not won since 1998, she has an excuse that during this time she was not able to do anything. The only disadvantage for Ms Bhinder appears to be her having remained out of power for last six years, which seems to have created a distance between her and her electorate. But people do remember that her husband had been instrumental in providing jobs to so many people in the area. |
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Few women fielded in J-K
Jammu, May 7 There was no woman candidate in the Udhampur, Ladakh and Baramula constituencies. The polling for Udhampur and Ladakh would be held on May 10. The Samata Party, which hardly has any base here had fielded Ms Sudesh Puri for the Jammu seat. The biggest number of two women were in the fray from the Srinagar constituency where the Socialist Democratic Party had fielded Ms Darakshan Andrabi while Ms Mehbooba contested as an Independent. No woman from J&K has gone to the Lok Sabha in the past 20 years. The last to win the election in 1984 was Begum Akbar Jehan, mother of Dr.Farooq Abdullah, who contested on the symbol of the National Conference (NC) from the Anantnag constituency. She had for the first time won the Lok Sabha poll from Srinagar in 1977 which was a lucky election for women as Rani Parvati Devi also won the election from the Ladakh constituency as the Congress candidate. Ms Mehbooba Mufti contested the election from Srinagar against Mr.Omar Abdullah of the NC for the first time in 1999, but she lost badly. Two other women — Ms Hafiza Begum and Ms Waheeda Shah, who contested as Independents, were trounced badly as they polled only 498 and 153 votes, respectively. Before that, the BJP fielded Mrs Sarla Taploo as its candidate from Anantnag in 1996 and she was able to bag 39,960 votes although these were not enough for winning the seat. The BJP fielded another woman Ms Spalzes Angmo, from Ladakh seat in the same election but she got only 5728 votes. Women, however, play a significant role in the J&K elections where they number 29,04,736 against 34,72,136 men voters. |
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Making calculations on caste
factor
Karnal, May 7 The BJP candidate, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Mr ID Swami, Congress candidate, Dr Arvind Sharma, rebel Congress leader, Mr Kuldip Sharma, and Ekta Shakti candidate, Mr Raj Kumar Sharma, belong to the Brahmin community. The ruling INLD’s candidate Transport Minister of Haryana, Mr Ashok Arora, is a Khatri by caste and belongs to the Punjabi community which has a sizable presence in the district. Most local politicians admit to the role of the caste factor and say that this could provide the decisive tilt to the results. The main point that goes against him is that he is not easily accessible to the public. But in the past two and half months, he has visited all villages and every nook and corner of the cities falling within the constituency seeking apology from all sections of society. Mr Arora belongs to the ruling party in the state and the Punjabi community. Apart from the strong anti-incumbency factor, the major point that goes against him is that he is an outsider. Without a solid support from the Punjabis, it may not be easy going for him. The third main candidate, Dr Arvind Sharma of the Congress, enjoys the advantage of the traditional dominance of the party in this seat. But he is facing two political battles — one from rival party candidates and the other from within his own party’s rebel candidate Kuldip Sharma whose father Chiranji Lal Sharma has represented this constituency on four occasions. Interestingly, Mr Raj Kumar Sharma, candidate of the newly formed party Ekta Shakti that by and large represents the Ror community has a sizable section of the electorate in the constituency. The community had in the last elections gone in favour of the INLD. Being a Brahmin, he may put a dent in the Brahmin vote bank also. As far as the calculations of the Brahmin vote bank go, it is likely to be divided among the Congress, BJP, Ekta Shakti and rebel Congress leader Kuldip Sharma. The maximum share of this vote bank is considered to be intact with the BJP. On the other hand, Mr Ram Chandra Jhangra of the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) claims to have secured the maximum support of a backward classes. |
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Looking for trends amid mafia
warning
Azamgarh, May 7 We decided to check out why we had been kept away from Azamgarh. Our search for an answer began at another Sher-e-Punjab Dhaba! It was just outside the city on the road leading to Varanasi. Papa Sardar was too engrossed in getting a drain declogged to acknowledge our greeting. Junior gave us an uncertain smile. We tried to break the ice over a cup of tea. Junior’s grandfather along with a dozen other families had settled down in this part of India after the 1947 upheaval. The ice broken, we got down to brass tacks. Now that the voting was over was it possible to make an informed guess? Junior offered his assessment. Almost 60 per cent of the electorate belongs to the Yadav community. That explains the preference for Yadav candidates by most parties. Mr Ram Naresh Yadav, a former Chief Minister, is contesting on Congress ticket. Mr Ramakant Yadav had contested the last election as a Samajwadi Party candidate. He has now joined the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Samajwadi flag has been handed over to Mr Durga Prasad Yadav. The Bharatiya Janata Party instead of following the trend has decided to field a Muslim candidate. Mr Shah Mohammad is not as well known outside the region as is Mr Arif Mohammad Khan. There are 20 per cent Muslim votes in Azamgarh. Junior was sure that it would be a direct contest between Mr Shah Mohammad and Mr Ram Naresh Yadav. The reason? They are both educated and good orators. The other two had tried to use muscle power to change the equations. We asked the young Sardar whether he could guide us to the village of Athar Husain Rizvi. He thought Athar had taken the place of Abu Salem or Dawood Ibrahim, who are both from Azamgarh, to fill the vacuum their flight from Mumbai must have caused in the underworld. Had he heard about Shabana Rizvi? He allowed himself a loud guffaw. “Oh, you mean Shabana Azmi. Anyone will guide you to his village.” We had overshot Mijwan, the place of birth of Athar Husain Rizvi, who is now known only as Kaifi Azmi, by 90 km. Sure enough, the people we asked for direction, knew both Shabana and Kaifi and their contribution in the development of Phulpur, the tehsil in which the Azmis’ ancestral village is located. Had Shabana decided to contest, she would have given the rivals a run for their money. All roads literally led to Mijwan. We had a choice of taking either the Shabana Azmi Road or Kaifi Azmi Road. Like the Ganga and the Yamuna, they merged and became one a short distance away from the Azmi home. A padlock on the gate sent us looking for the caretaker. Gopal, who became part of Kaifi Sahib’s household in Mumbai nearly two decades ago, now lives with his Maharashtrian wife in Mijwan. He took us around the educational institutions for girls and the computer centre that have been set up by the Mijwan Welfare Society, founded by Kaifi Sahib and Shabana. Although Kaifi remained a card-holding member of the Communist Party till his end, he was not able to make any one in Mijwan believe in his ideology. He loved them for what they were and they returned his love in equal measure. We ask Mr Riyasat Husain and Mr Shiv Prasad Jaiswal, both residents of Mijwan and office-bearers of the society set up by the Azmis, about the electoral trends in Azamgarh. They saw it as a contest between the Samajwadi and the BSP. At the end of the day, we had two assessments. One gave the seat either to the BJP or the Congress and the other saw a slight tilt in favour of the Samajwadi candidate over the BSP. At the end of the day, we still had no clue why we had been kept out of Azamgarh when we had come looking for trends before the elections. |
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Videos
Corruption, unemployment and local problems seemed to sidetrack all other issues. Traders complained of a fall in business while for the middle class, especially women, inflation was a big problem. The recent demolition drives, dry taps, high electricity charges and lack of other basic amenities were top on the minds of slum-dwellers.
Bolpur (Birbhum), May 7
Of the 83 candidates for the six Lok Sabha seats in the state, only four are women. But the prominent one was only Ms Mehbooba Mufti, President of the ruling PDP, in the Anantnag constituency.