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Sonia attacks Modi, says he is being projected as a "magician"

KOLAR (Karnataka) Training her guns on BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today charged that he was being projected with his "true face" hidden behind a mask and as a "magician" who could cure all ills of the country.

Without naming Modi, Gandhi also made a stinging attack on the Gujarat model of development being touted by him, saying some people had the habit of projecting "small things in a big" way as if no good work is happening in other states.

"These days you can see all over the country huge and costly advertisements are being showcased and an attempt is being made by them to hide the truth," the UPA Chairperson told an election rally here.

She said, "An attempt is being made to hide the true face of one person with a mask; he is being projected as a cure for all ills and as a magician for the country." Tearing into the Gujarat model, she said, "Some people have this habit of projecting small things in a big way. These days similar picture is being shown about the development in Gujarat as though no good work is happening in other states." Gandhi said it was a "different thing altogether" that the poor, downtrodden and minorities had made enough sacrifices for "this development...children are dying of malnutrition in poor man's house, tribals are facing problems in leading their daily lives." Charging that farmers' lands were being forcefully acquired in Gujarat, she said, "If we talk about the condition of women in Gujarat, there are different types of harassment.

This is their true picture." "....they don't believe in unity in diversity, they divide hearts, they make brothers to fight against each other.

Please tell me can you expect nation building from such people who don't believe in our fundamentals of secular principles." "We cannot have expectations from such people about nation building.," Gandhi said, as she canvassed support for Union Minister K H Muniyappa who is contesting from Kolar (Reserved) constituency.

"We have two options in front of us. On one side we have BJP and its divisive communal agenda, on the other side there is Congress which has always stood for brotherhood and unity...," Gandhi said.

"This is the same BJP that talks of Dharma and morality, but you are witness to the fact of how women were treated during their rule, it was a kind of national embarrassment," she said hitting out at the previous BJP government in Karnataka.

She said, "It was the time in Karnataka when all kinds of developmental activities had come to halt, and with conspiracy and collusion your mineral resources were being looted." Expressing happiness about developmental works undertaken by Siddaramaih-led Government, she said, "A season of progress has come back to Karnataka." She also said that in the last ten years UPA government at the Centre has also undertaken several developmental works.

"We have done works and have taken several decisions that will improve the quality of life of people from all sections of society." - PTI

Kejriwal visits auto driver's home, 'forgives' him

NEW DELHI: In a surprise move ahead of the polling day tomorrow, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal today visited the autorickshaw driver who had slapped him at a roadshow in North-West Delhi and said he has "forgiven" the attacker.

"I forgave him," Kejriwal said after meeting 38-year-old Lali at his residence in Aman Vihar area of Outer Delhi.Yesterday, Lali had first garlanded Kejriwal and then slapped him hard, leaving him with a swollen eye.

Touched by Kejriwal's gesture, the autorickshaw driver today described Kejriwal as "God" and said he made a "mistake" by attacking the former Chief Minister.

"I have committed a mistake. He is God for me. I did it because he left the government after some days. Government is not just for the Lok Pal bill. There are other important issues also.

"He organized a 'janta darbar', I also went in it but could not see him. I tried hard to meet him, my entire day was wasted. I thought I could never meet him again and then I got to know that BJP may form government. Then nothing could be done," Lali said.

After the attack, Lali had accused Kejriwal of not fulfilling promises made to autodrivers. He was detained by police but was let off as no complaint was lodged either by Kejriwal or AAP against him. Kejriwal had called off the roadshow following the incident and headed for Rajghat where he sat for over an hour.

Later at a press conference, Kejriwal had alleged that attacks on him are a part of a "larger conspiracy" and questioned why these were only carried out against him and his party.

"Why do these people attack only us and not others. In future, we will also have more dangerous attacks and life threatening attacks, but we have to be ready to face them and not retaliate," Kejriwal said. He, however, insisted that he will not accept any security.

This was the third attack on Kejriwal in less than a fortnight. On March 28, he was attacked by a man, who claimed to be a supporter of Anna Hazare, during his election rally in Haryana. This was followed by another attack on him in Dakshinpuri area of South Delhi where he was punched by a disgruntled AAP volunteer. - PTI

18 killed in Islamabad blast

ISLAMABAD: A bomb ripped through a fruit and vegetable market on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Wednesday morning, killing at least 18 people and leaving dozens more wounded, officials said.

The death toll was likely to rise, according to Dr. Aisha Eisani, the spokeswoman for the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences where the dead and wounded were taken. She said that the hospital had received 18 dead bodies and had reports from police that more dead bodies were on the way.

The hospital was also treating 50 people who were wounded, Eisani said.

The bomb went off as morning shoppers were buying supplies at the market. The blast sent cartons of fruit and vegetables flying, and television footage from the scene showed blood stains on the ground, next to stray shoes and prayer caps.

The market is on the outskirts of Islamabad, near a makeshift camp for people displaced from fighting in Pakistan’s northwest as well as refugees from Afghanistan. It’s also next to a supermarket that sells food and household items to the capital’s middle class families.

The approximately five kg of explosives were hidden in a fruit carton, said a police official, Yasin Malik.

While large bombings happen frequently in Pakistani cities such as the northwestern city of Peshawar or the southern port city of Karachi, they are relatively rare in the capital, which is home to diplomats, generals and top government officials.

Police and officers from the bomb disposal squad were scanning the area for more devices.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, and the Pakistani Taliban in a statement emailed to reporters denied responsibility for the attack. The militant group said they were sticking to a previously agreed ceasefire.

The Taliban are currently in negotiations with the Pakistani government to try to resolve years of deadly fighting in the northwest that has killed tens of thousands of people.

But attacks like Wednesday’s have continued even as the negotiations have picked up pace, leading to questions about whether the militant group is in full control of various factions that could be behind the attacks. - Agencies

Tendulkar adorns cover of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

LONDON: Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who quit international cricket last year after an illustrious 24-year long career, adorned the covers of the 151st edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

The 40-year-old cricketer is the first Indian to feature on the cover of the Almanack. He was earlier chosen to feature on the cover of the second edition of the Wisden India Almanack.

The yellow page shows Tendulkar walking out of the Wankhede stadium after playing his last innings against the West Indies in November last year. The photograph captured Tendulkar acknowledging the crowd with his bat raised.

"Sachin simply picks himself," said Lawrence Booth, the Wisden editor. "His status and influence on the game are beyond question. Wisden is delighted to add its own tribute to an exceptional career in this year's Almanack." The 2014 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack will be published in London tomorrow.

The Wisden said: "Tendulkar played Test matches in front of the most demanding fans in the world for 24 years." Wisden also compared Tendulkar's record with England skipper Alastair Cook and Australia captain Michael Clarke.

"If further proof was required of just how astonishing that was, it came at Perth in December, when for a few moments one Cook and one Clarke added up to exactly one Tendulkar: 200 Test caps, 15,921 runs and 51 hundreds." - PTI 

Voting for Chandigarh, 10 Haryana LS seats tomorrow

CHANDIGARH: About 1.55 Crore voters, including 71 lakh women, will seal the fate of 251 candidates in fray for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana tomorrow.

Chief Electoral Officer of Haryana Shrikant Walgad said 60 Companies of Central Para Military Forces and 44,000 personnel of Haryana Police and Home Guards have been deployed to ensure the peaceful conduct of polling.

He said all necessary arrangements, including checking of Electronic Voting Machines, have been done for the polling at 16,129 polling stations, including 11,644 in rural areas.

The 10 Lok Sabha seats will witness four cornered contests between the candidates of ruling Congress, BJP-HJC BL combine, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) though a total of 251 candidates are in the fray.

Meanwhile about six lakh voters will seal the fate of 17 candidates for the lone Lok Sabha seat from Chandigarh Union Territory.

The main contestants include sitting Congress MP Pawan Bansal, Kirron Kher (BJP) and Gul Panang (AAP) and Jannat Jahan (BSP).

In Haryana Congress's Naveen Jindal, Arvind Sharma and Avtar Singh Bhadana are seeking third term from Kurukshetra, Karnal and Faridabad respectively.

Congress nominee of 2009 general election Rao Inderjit Singh is also trying to enter the the Lok Sabha for the third successive term, but this time on the nomination of the saffron party BJP. - PTI 

VADODARA: Thousands of BJP workers and supporters thronged the city streets today to catch a glimpse of the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who began his road show here before going to the collectorate to file nomination papers for the Lok Sabha polls.

Tea vendor Kiran Mahida and a member of city's royal family Shubhanginidevi Raje-Gaekwad will sign as supporters when Modi files his nomination papers for the Vadodara Lok Sabha constituency.

Today is the last day of filing of nomination forms in the state which will witness single phase poll on April 30 to elect representative for 26 Lok Sabha constituencies.

BJP General secretary and party in-charge for Gujarat Om Mathur, state BJP president R C Faldu, senior RSS leader Suresh Jain and other party leaders will also accompany Modi during the filing of his nomination papers.

Modi, who arrived at the city airport at 10 AM, drove straight to Kirti Stambh premises in Raopura locality, from where he is leading the 'Vijay Vikas Yatra', a road show, that will passing through various parts of the city and reach at the collectorate to file his nomination papers.

This is for the first time that he will visit the Vadodara constituency after selecting it as a second seat.

The Gujarat Chief Minister is also contesting from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat which will go to polls on May 12.

Balkrishna Shukla, sitting BJP MP, who vacated his seat in favour of Modi, will file his papers as a dummy candidate.

Madhusudan Mistry, AICC general secretary and close aide of vice president of the Congress party Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting against Modi from this Lok Sabha seat, had filed his nomination papers on April 5. - PTI 

1 killed, another feared dead in avalanche in J&K

SRINAGAR: One person was killed and another was feared dead today after an avalanche hit them in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district, police said.

They said the two men, who were travelling from Kargil towards Kashmir Valley on foot, came under a snow avalanche early in the morning in Nilgrah, 85 kms from here.

The body of one of the youth was pulled out of the snow by a rescue team and efforts are on to trace the other.

The identity of the duo is being ascertained, police said, adding that they received a report about two youths - Javed Ali and Mohammad Baqir - both residents of Kargil, leaving the town April 5.

The 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh highway, the only road linking the frontier region of Ladakh with the rest of Jammu and Kashmir, remains closed for six to seven months annually due to heavy snowfall. - PTI