Congress unsparing in criticising former allies
PM, Sonia target Lalu, Left
Jamui, April 11
Addressing her first election rally in Bihar, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today attacked erstwhile ally , Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD), and reminded people of RJD’s poor record of governance in the state. “ The less said the better about those dark days,” she declared in an unusually hard-hitting speech.

Advani targets PM again Left often on wrong side of history: PM Congress president Sonia Gandhi at a rally in Jamui, Bihar, on Saturday. — PTI

Top leaders fail to touch Naxal issue
Raipur, April 11
Saturday turned out to be an eventful day for both the BJP and the Congress in Chhattisgarh, slated to go to poll on April 16. Its top leaders landed in the state to woo the electorate, but none of them even remotely referred to, let alone make any strong statements, on either the problem of Naxalism or the Friday’s Naxalite incident in the state in which 10 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

1,882 suicides by farmers in Malwa belt in 15 yrs
Govt records, however, show near-nil figures
Chandigarh, April 11
Families of farmers who committed suicide in Punjab may have to wait for a long time to avail themselves of the compensation announced for them by the state government. The Punjab government had announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to each of these families. But there is no unanimity on the number of such families in the state.

Now, Kandhamal BJP candidate booked for hate speech
After Pilibhit, it is the turn of Kandhamal in Orissa to gather some communal steam, with the district administration today slapping a criminal case against the local BJP candidate, charged with delivering a hate speech against Christians at an election rally in the already troubled Lok Sabha segment. The development comes at a time when the security machinery in the area is working overtime to ensure peaceful poll in a constituency that saw 38 Christians murdered and thousands of displacements last August following the killing of local VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.

No English  or computers please: SP
Lucknow, April 11
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who unveiled his party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls here today, said the party was against English education and use of computers. The manifesto also said the party would work to ensure that they were curbed if a government is formed with its support.

Dam oustees’ funds used to buy vehicles for ministers
Dharamsala, April 11
The state ministers and bureaucrats are draining the Pong Dam Oustees Development Agency (PODA), which is meant for welfare and providing employment to thousands of dam oustees. The finances for the agency are coming for the compensation provided for common lands of oustees that was acquired for the Pong Dam by the BBMB. As per information collected under the RTI, in 2003-04 a Scorpio was purchased for the then state revenue minister using PODA funds worth Rs 5,36,707.

I’m learning how crooked the system is: Sarabhai Irrespective of whether or not she wins, danseuse Mallika Sarabhai is easily the most glamorous candidate in this birth place of Mahatma Gandhi. Even though she herself is an accomplished dancer and belongs to a distinguished and affluent upper class family, Sarabhai’s disillusionment is as deep with the “intellectual and upper classes” in Gujarat and the country alike as it is with the ruling BJP in the state.