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Repoll in 660 Bihar polling stations today
Shibu Soren harps on his contribution
2 history-sheeters battle it out in
Mokama
Hemant Soren to contest from
Dumka
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Pappu Yadav quits RJD
Patna, February 6 Mr Pappu Yadav, who had earlier resigned from the RJD Parliamentary Board, had on Saturday threatened to quit the party and resign as an MP in order to seek the mandate afresh from Madhepura. He is an RJD MP from Madhepura. Mr Laloo Prasad has said Pappu Yadav is free to quit the party or resign as an MP. While campaigning here for the second phase of the assembly poll due on February 15, Mr Laloo Prasad said: “I don’t care about such people. This (Pappu Yadav’s decision) will not affect our poll prospects.” Pappu Yadav and his supporters have vowed to campaign against the RJD in Laloo Prasad’s strongholds of Madhepura, Saharsa and Purnea. He has hinted that he could rejoin Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). Before joining the RJD last year to contest the byelection from the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency, Mr Pappu Yadav was an LJP member. He was defeated from the Purnea Lok Sabha seat as an LJP candidate last year. Pappu Yadav, who was jailed for the murder of a Marxist leader, asserted that the poll fortunes of Laloo Prasad would be affected in the Bihar Assembly elections that began on February 3 because the latter had ignored his supporters. — IANS |
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Repoll in 660 Bihar polling stations today
New Delhi, February 6 The polling stations where a repoll has been ordered fall in the districts of Gaya, Jahanabad, Bhojpur and Nawada in Bihar and Palamau and Giridh in Jharkhand. A repoll was already being held in 347 polling stations spread over eight districts in Bihar and 21 polling stations in Jharkhand today. |
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Shibu Soren harps on his contribution
Kukru (Kharsawa), February 6 It is the day of a weekly market in Kukru and people are excited by the arrival of the helicopter. Soren takes the mike and urges the group near the helicopter to come close to the stage. People obey him. As long speeches are made in support of JMM-Congress nominee Sudhir Mahato, contesting from Ichagarh of which Kukru is a part, Soren shows no signs of hurry. Speakers remind the villagers of the “humiliation” by sitting BJP MLA Arvind Kumar Singh. “He had slapped a boy from a poor family who used a community latrine. Soren does not let go the emotional pitch touched by the previous speakers. Holding forth in Bengali, he reminds people of his “40-year struggle” for the creation of Jharkhand which had forced the then NDA government to create a new state. Guruji, as he is known in the state, talks of “sacrifices by nearly 3.500 persons” in the struggle for the creation for Jharkhand. The BJP is his main target and he portrays the party in communal colours. “Think of the future of your children and choose between safety and danger. First, it was Laloo Yadav’s RJD and later the BJP which looted the state.” Soren says he has been implicated in false criminal cases for political motives by the previous governments. The JMM chief has no kind words for state Congress leaders but he is effusive in praise of party president Sonia Gandhi. “She is a great woman who has her ears to the ground.” Several times in his 40-minute speech, Soren returns to his contribution in the creation of the new state and how the natives have been “fooled and exploited” by successive regimes. “You are responsible for your fate. Because you have not used your brains. Now is the chance to regain self-pride and rule the offcialdom that has always discriminated against you. Jharkhand is your mother. Feel the fragrance of its soil once.” Most villages in the area, which is 9 km from Purulia in West Bengal, are without electricity. “The average monthly household income in this village is not more than Rs 2,000,” says Mr Debashis Ray, a local Congress worker. The JMM candidate had finished second in the last election in Ichagarh. The Congress-JMM workers are hopeful of caste equations working in their favour this time. The seat has nearly 70,000 Mahato votes with tribals constituting the next biggest group. The minorities also have a sizeable presence. State Chief Minister Arjun Munda is contesting from the neighbouring Kharsawan seat. Ichagarh falls in Seraikella-Kharsawa district but JMM-Congress workers are confident that Mr Munda’s presence will not have an impact. “Tribesmen are unhappy with the BJP as it has tried to include more castes in the tribal category,” says Kormu Lal Mahato, a JMM worker. |
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2 history-sheeters battle it out in
Mokama
Mokama, February 6 Lallan Singh, who has 12 criminal cases registered against him, is known as a sharp-shooter and that is why he has been nursed by his boss. Challenging him is another criminal Anant Singh, who has been fielded by the JD (U). Anant Singh was given the party ticket at the behest of the Nitish Kumar. Nitish Kumar has brought Anant Singh to settle old scores with Mr Ram Vilas Paswan. This Assembly constituency, which has a sizable Bhumihar electorate, is part of the Barh Lok Sabha constituency where Nitish Kumar had lost after winning it three times in succession. Mr Suraj Bhan Singh, who was earlier a protege of Mr Nitish Kumar, had switched his loyalities in 2004 to Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, leading to the JD (U) leader’s defeat. The third candidate is Shyam Sunder Singh ‘Dhiraj’ (RJD), who is also notorious for harbouring and protecting criminal. All three candidates are not only notorious for their links with the criminal world but are also Bhumihars. Surprisingly, neither Laloo Prasad Yadav nor his arch rival, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, becomes defensive when confronted with the fielding of criminal elements. Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav has fielded brother of education mafia Ranjeet Don who was arrested for a scam in the CAT examinations in 2004. Mr Ram Vilas Paswan was not far behind as he gave the ticket to Ranjeet Don himself. Mr Paswan, when asked, said that he could not fight Mr Laloo Yadav by fielding soft and weak candidates. Mr Laloo Yadav refused to accept that any of his party candidates had criminal cases against them and brushed away further questions on the subject. While these criminals would settle their scores in the last phase, the second and third-phase contests are also dominated by regional warlords and kings of the crime world like Pappu Yadav in Madhepura, Saharsa and Purnea, Mohammad Shahabuddin in Siwan and Mohammad Taslimuddin in Kishanganj. They are going to play a decisive role in over 48 constituencies where the RJD had fared pretty well in the last Assembly elections and in the 2004 Lok Sabha poll. Of the four noted “history-sheeters”, Suraj Bhan and Pappu Yadav are already in rival camps which must be causing minor headache, if not a migraine, to the otherwise confident RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav. |
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Hemant Soren to contest from
Dumka
Ranchi, February 6 Mr Marandi, MP, who has been winning the seat for the past several elections, was denied the ticket by the JMM chief. Mr Marandi said he was not given the JMM ticket as part of a strategy to keep him away from state politics. The former leader of JMM legislature party said he wanted to continue in the state politics and had no desire for a role at the Centre. Mr Marandi’s presence as an Independent is expected to damage the JMM prospects in the remaining two phases of elections particularly in the 18 seats of Santhal Parganas. Meanwhile, state election commission said here that 550 candidates had filed nominations for the third phase of polling on February 23. The last date for filing nominations ended yesterday. The maximum number of candidates are expected to be in the fray in Bokaro where 55 persons have filed their nomination papers. The number of candidates in the third phase is more than the number for the first and second phases. Additional Chief Electoral Officer Surender Singh Meena said the state had recorded 54.98 per cent polling in the first-phase elections on February 3. Latehar had recorded the lowest polling of 36 per cent while Gandey had recorded 65 per cent polling. There were no reports yet of zero polling from any booth in the
Naxalite-affected areas.
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Bihar’s ruling RJD MP Pappu Yadav today resigned from the primary membership of the party in a revolt that comes right ahead of the second and third phase of the assembly poll.
Sources close to Pappu Yadav said he resigned because party chief and Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav had ignored him while distributing the ticket.
