Bathinda, April 28
The Malwa region seems to be in the strong grip of political action as people can be seen discussing election issues even during marriage functions.

Bathinda: The battleground

Bathinda, the home turf of Badals, is set to witness “mother of all electoral battles” as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s nephew Manpreet Badal is pitted against his (CM's) daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal. The contest is no more confined only to the electoral politics. It has gone beyond the level of exchanging aggressive barbs.

“No one had expected this will happen within the Badal family, but politics and power attached to it has its own logic and trappings,” said Gurmeet Singh, a retired teacher.

In Bathinda, drug addiction, cancer and interference of jathedars in the functioning of administration are major issues. “There is a high incidence of cancer in this belt and addiction to drugs is widespread,” says Jagir Singh.

“Some blame the existence of thermal plants in the Bathinda region for the high incidence of cancer and others say it is because of the extensive use of pesticides on crops,” says Manjit Singh, a farmer from Jassi village.

He tells The Tribune that “one must go to Badal’s own constituency— Lambi— to gauge the level of drug addiction in that area.”

‘Quiet’ Lambi

The road to Lambi from Bathinda via Badal is one of the best roads in the country. On it, our car moves virtually on a jet speed. “It has been specially constructed for Badal Sahib,” says the driver of taxi hired by The Tribune team.

On the way, no election-related activity is visible in any of the villages. Even, nothing seems to be happening in Badal village. A good number of policemen, women and traffic constables can be seen standing near Parkash Singh Badal’s fort-like residence there. On approaching, a constable says, “The Deputy Chief Minister is about to reach here.”

The periphery of Badal village is all green as it is dotted with large kinnow farms.

Next to Badal village, along the road combine harvests are moving on a fast pace to harvest wheat.

We stop near Sikh Wala village. Gurdev Singh, a farmer, said, “This time, the wheat yield will be only 17-18 quintals per acre. Last year, it was near 21 quintal.”

“Bad weather at the ripening stage proved harmful,” he says, offering a cup of tea. Asked about the elections, he is not prepared to reveal his preference. “The contest is within the big family of Badals. It is a tough battle,” he adds, turning his attention towards a combine harvesting machine.

Drug addiction: Key issue

The Tribune team comes across many drug addicts waiting for the opening of a vend at Haripur (Rajasthan), which is situated close to the Punjab boundary, to procure poppy husk. “I have come from Sadiq, near Ferozepur, to take bhuki,” says Golu. Only after visiting Haripur, one can estimate how big Punjab’s drug addiction problem is. That is why it has become a key issue in the elections.

The other day, AAP leader Yogendera Yadav rightly observed that one generation of Punjab was finished by militancy and other is being devoured by drugs and politicians were not bothered to address this issue.

While going to Gidderbaha and Muktsar, The Tribune finds draglines removing silt from water channels and labour is busy re-carpeting the roads. “This year, farmers in this belt suffered losses because their crop has been damaged due to heavy rains that compounded the water-logging problems in the area,” said Gurdial Singh, a farmer from Channu village. Waterlogging has become an election issue in this area.

Sale of sand, gravel on black market

Driving down to Sangrur, The Tribune team halts near a truck union. Drivers narrated stories about the sale of “reta-bajri” (sand and gravel) on the black market. “Some years ago, when we used to take goods to Himachal while returning we used to bring the truck filled with sand extracted from the Ghaggar riverbed and used to pay only Rs 300. Now, it is not even available for Rs 30,000,” says Mohana, a truck driver.

“Rajsi loka ne reta-bajri te kabja kar liya hai (Influential people have taken over the business of sand and gravel),” he adds. “We have suffered a financial loss because of that,” he adds.

Change in campaigning style

At Sangrur, AAP candidate Bhagwant Mann was holding a road show. The SAD candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa is to hold a rally in the evening and the Congress candidate is to begin door-to-door campaigning.

“The style of campaigning has changed. Candidates avoid big rallies and prefer road shows because they create more impact. Now, no one seems to be interested in placing big posters and hoardings,” says Gora Lal, a shopkeeper at Sangrur.

“It is all quiet here as if nothing is happening,” he adds. Replying to a question that which is most important issue for him, Gora Lal says, “It is prevailing corruption.”

SC ruling on transgenders emerges as an issue

From Sangrur, The Tribune team proceeds to Sirhind. Here, the Supreme Court judgment related to transgenders has become a key issue, so the plan was to visit one of their deras. Sirhind has three deras of transgenders.

Driving through the narrow lanes, we make to a dera, a beautifully done place. Salma and Krishna are there and their guru Kulara, who is known as “mahant”, is away to Delhi for a meeting.

“We are happy that the Supreme Court has recognised us as a third gender. It will improve our lives and remove difficulties which we have been facing in preparing official documents,” says Salma.

Asked about the elections, she says all members of the dera are enroled as voters and they voted even in the last municipal elections. “We will vote even in the Lok Sabha elections,” says Salma.

There is a visible anti-incumbency factor playing in the current Lok Sabha elections in Punjab. The Badal government has been projecting its development agenda, but the sale of “reta-bajri” on the black market and drug addiction have emerged as key issues. Besides, the emergence of AAP as a new political force in the state appears to have made the electoral scenario more complicated to decipher for the experts. 

Chandigarh, April 28
As the din of campaigning dies down in Punjab, political stakeholders will have to incorporate armed forces personnel in their calculus who would cast their vote at their place of posting.

Although residing in Punjab, many of those casting their votes would not be natives of the state. This could imply that issues having wider national ramifications could get precedence over local matters.

As many as 80,894 armed forces personnel and members of their families, including 20,521 women, have been registered as voters at their place of posting. “This is the highest number of armed forces personnel ever registered,” Raminder Singh, Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, said.

During earlier elections, most defence personnel were unable to exercise their constitutional rights as the electoral authorities did not survey or register persons residing in military stations, despite existing rules to do so. Even military authorities had a lackadaisical attitude towards the electoral process. It was the Supreme Court’s intervention that put things in a high gear.

Punjab has a huge population of serving armed forces personnel. “We have been advocating the soldiers' right to vote and have been pursuing the Army authorities to ensure that troops get themselves registered as voters,” Col HS Sanga (retd) of the Indian Ex-services League at Jalandhar said.

Jalandhar, April 28
Unlike the previous Lok Sabha elections, this time the youth seems to be more enthusiastic to cast their votes. Credit goes to the awareness campaigns launched by the Election Commission of India, political activism among the candidates and awareness drives in social media.

District Election Officers (DEOs) in the state have aggressively launched ECI schemes — Voting Awareness Campaign in social media, door-to-door visits to residents and educational institutes — to sensitise the youth about the importance of the Right to Vote.

Even the target of achieving 80 per cent poll turnout can only be achieved with the maximum youth’s participation. For that, poll officials are busy organising events such as cycle rally, car rally, marathon, public discussion and offering discounts at petrol pumps, restaurants etc.

Over 98 lakh young voters, amount to nearly 50 per cent of the voters in Punjab, are being considered as a deciding factor in the Lok Sabha elections. With the registration of five lakh voters, the parties have to sweat it out to convince first-timers.

Awareness Observer

Unlike in the past where there used to be three observers for the election—Election Observer, Expenditure Observer and Police Observer, this time the ECI has appointed three Awareness Observers in three districts — Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana — to observe the intervention undertaken by the election machinery to bridge the gap in people's participation in the electoral process, particularly with regard to voter turnout.

These observers will monitor the voter awareness schemes and activities run by the DEOs. A poll official said Awareness Observers would do a post-election analysis to gauge the participation of young voters.

Role of institutes

With April 30 being the government holiday, many hostellers have decided to leave for their native places in the state to cast vote. Komalpreet Saini of Pathankot, a student of Lovely Professional University, said, “I am going home, which is about 135 km from here, to cast vote for the first time in the Lok Sabha polls.”

Another student Supreet Kaur of Patiala said, “Earlier I have voted in the councillor’s election, but this will be the first time when I will vote in the Lok Sabha election. We should exercise our Right to Vote for the betterment of the nation.”

Tuhiana Arora of Amritsar, studying in Jalandhar, said, “With the None of the Above (NOTA) button on the electronic voting machines (EVMs), voters will get the chance to use the option of ‘no-voting’ with secrecy.”

Aman Mittal, Director Public Relations, LPU, said though LPU had made 80 per cent attendance mandatory for the students, 10 per cent exemption had been granted for those who want to take a special leave for works concerning the people or the country, including a leave for voting.

Voter ID must for admissions

To drive youngsters to polling booths, many colleges have made voting ID compulsory for the youth seeking admissions. Kiran Arora, Principal, SD College, Jalandhar, said the college had made voting ID cards compulsory for the new-comers seeking admissions.

“We have launched this campaign a month ago to create awareness about voting rights among the youth. We told students to bring their voter cards to avail admission to the college,” she adds.

Election ambassador

The idea of appointing students as election ambassadors at educational institutes to pull them to the booths seems to be proving the most productive exercise. Many colleges in the district have appointed such ambassadors who are told to spread awareness about the Right to Vote. The ambassadors have to ensure that maximum students’ participation in the polling process. The DEOs will honour them after assessing the voting percentage from their respective institutes.

Role of social media

Some DEOs have created their special pages on Facebook to encourage the youth for voting. Amritsar has FB page “Amritsar Go For Vote”, Jalandhar has “Wake Up Jalandhar & Vote”, and Ludhiana has ‘Sveep’(Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation.

Students’ issues

The students' bodies across the state are actively expressing their views on key issues0. Surinder Khiwa, state president, Democratic Youth Federation of India, Varun Kashyap, in charge, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Jalandhar and Nigam Bhandari, general secretary-cum- Punjab and Chandigarh in-charge, National Students Union of India said privatisation and commercialisation of education should be discouraged and all parties must figure this issue in their manifestoes.

In numbers

Total voters  (below 40 years)

98 lakh

Ludhiana 53,527

Amritsar 35,548

Jalandhar 34,585

Fatehgarh Sahib 11,312

Ahmedabad, April 28
"We are not bothered about the candidate. We are voting for Modi ji," commented a businessman in Rajkot. A campaigner moving in an auto-rickshaw around Lal Krishna Advani's Gandhinagar constituency was appealing to the voters, "vote for the lotus, vote for Modi ji."

This is the scenario in Gujarat, the home turf of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Barring the Porbandar constituency, where "two musclemen" are contesting, votes are sought in Modi's name.

Battle of pride

Modi may be at the centre of the electoral battle in every state, but it is different in Gujarat. It is the battle of prestige for voters here. For the first time, a "son of the soil" is ready to step into the Prime Minister's office. Though Morarji Desai was the first PM from Gujarat having represented the Surat constituency, the people of the state did not treat him as one of them, having never forgiven him as he was sole leader opposing the formation of a separate state of Gujarat in the late 50s.

'Acid test' after riots

Gujarat is again at the focal point where Modi will face an acid test to prove his point that he represents the "Gujarat pride," the passion he had tried to arouse time and again since 2002, whenever he was cornered by his political opponents on the communal riots, fake encounters.

No second line leadership

If Modi moves to Delhi, he will have to keep his home state intact because for his own alleged selfish reasons. He has allegedly not allowed the second line of leadership in the state BJP to grow lest his complete supremacy is challenged. After taking over as the Chief Minister, Modi allegedly sidelined all senior party leaders in the state forcing them either to bow out or be lost in the political oblivion. Two former Chief Ministers - Keshubhai Patel and Suresh Mehta - and former Union Ministers Kashiram Rana and AK Patel are some leaders who were thrown out of the BJP or completely sidelined. Among the younger leaders around him, none has shown the promise to take over the responsibility if he moves to Delhi.

Modi bigger than BJP?

It was only the "Modi magic" that worked in Gujarat and not the BJP ideology. Minus Modi, the BJP held no advantage over the Congress, forcing every BJP candidate, including a tall leader like Advani, to keep emphasising that voting for "lotus" would mean "voting for Modi and development."

The time-tested leader is enjoying several advantages over his principal rival, the Congress, while the newly formed Aam Aadmi Party, which has fielded candidates in 24 constituencies, may prove to be a non-starter in Modi's home turf. For voters, Modi stands for "development and progress" and is "ready to move" to Delhi to replicate the Gujarat model in the "rest of the country."

Youth mesmerised by Modi

Gujarat did not wait for Modi to come and develop the state, but the "Modi magic" has mesmerised them so much that a majority of the youth give the credit to the Chief Minister for what Gujarat was today. "Modi has created the right atmosphere for the Indian and foreign companies to invest in the state and enabled it to take off on the path of progress," said a first-time voter

Modi was also successful in overriding all negative aspects by creating the impression that whatever were his failures were all due to the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. The performance of the Manmohan Singh government apart, the weak Congress leadership in the state failed to counter Modi's anti-Congress tirade he had launched well in advance, much before he started his whirlwind tour of the country.

Better show in pre-Modi era

Records show that the BJP performed better in the state in the pre-Modi era. The BJP's best tally of 20 seats was in 1991 following LK Advani’s Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath, and in 1999 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee led the party to power at the Centre. After Modi, the BJP came down to 14 seats in 2004, and 15 in the 2009 elections.

The intelligence wing of the state police has reportedly given the BJP 15 seats and the Congress six. Almost a similar estimate came from the Congress leaders who are pinning hopes on sitting MPs who defied the "Modi wave" in 2004 and 2009. They believe that the Congress would get at least six seats and could snatch two more based on the caste calculations and other local factors. The former Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Shankarsinh Vaghela, contesting for the Sabarkantha seat, believes that the Congress will get 16 seats in the state. The BJP is, however, publicly showing the confidence of a clean sweep, but its internal assessment gives 13 seats each to the two main rivals.

Other factors

The elections this time could be different in Gujarat where the caste criteria, discontentment among the rank and file, wrong selection of candidates and local issues could become irrelevant. It has been conceded that Modi has the potential to override all obstacles with his direct connect with the people. He has demonstrated it in the three consecutive state Assembly elections.

Although Congress president Sonia Gandhi attracted crowds in her rallies, she failed to convince voters against Modi. 

Ahemdabad, April 28
Raj Samadhiyala village, 30 km from Rajkot, has made voting compulsory for its residents.

It has closed its doors for all parties to campaign, distribute pamphlets or paste posters. “We discuss politics and agendas of various parties openly, but leave the decision to choose the candidate on voters,” said Hardevsinh Jadeja, former sarpanch.

For the last decade or so, the village recorded over 90 or 95 per cent voting in the Lok Sabha, Assembly and panchayat elections. This time, the 15-member village committee has imposed the “compulsory voting” formula on its 960-odd electorate. All eligible voters have been told to remain present in the village on the polling day and reach the polling booth to caste their votes.

The committee has decided to impose a fine of Rs 500, if anyone wilfully violated the compulsory voting order.

In case any voter has problem or any sort to caste their vote, he or she will either have to seek a leave in advance or submit valid reasons to the village committee. If the committee is not convinced, the defaulter will have to pay the fine.

Recently, the BJP has passed the compulsory voting Bill in the state Assembly twice, but it could not become an Act as Governor Kamala Beniwal has withheld her consent, taking objections against the provisions on punishment for failing to exercise their franchise. 

Kanpur, April 28
Union Minister and three-time MP Sriprakash Jaiswal's image in Kanpur is that of an 'insider available every weekend'. This is fetching him points in a direct fight against BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, who has an 'aristocratic style of functioning'.

The Muslims — around 23 per cent — hold the key in the constituency even as the community is still undecided between the three non-BJP choices available to them. It will be advantage Joshi if the Muslim votes split between Jaiswal, BSP's Saleem Ahmad and AAP's Dr Mehmood Hussain Rehmani.

The Samajwadi Party in not in the race here. After the party's first choice comedian Raju Srivastava turned down the ticket and joined the BJP. The party's second choice Surendra Agarwal has not managed to put his act together.

Once described as the “Manchester of the East”, Kanpur’s famous industries have closed down one by one. Of the eight lakh population of the city at the time of Independence, one lakh was organised labour. Today, the population has swelled to 45 lakh but the organised labour has shrunk to 1,500 in the solitary mill - Lal Imli.

Tanneries in the Jajmau area make Kanpur a major production centre of leather goods. Of late, the tanneries are in trouble due to strict environmental laws. At one point of time, the tannery owners had threatened to shift to Bihar.

But neither the local problems nor corruption, inflation or any other national issues are being discussed here. "Jo hamare dukh-sukh me saath rehta hai wahi hamara MP hoga," said Rajesh, a tea stall owner.

Congress spokesperson Gulab Singh says Jaiswal being available every weekend at Kanpur and making sure that he is personally present at every social occasion has earned him goodwill.

Singh said Jaiswal had worked for the development of the city — flyovers, sodium lights, drinking water and better roads.

Joshi, on the other hand, first appeared to be a reluctant candidate when he was forced to quit his Varanasi seat in favour of the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Controversy followed him to Kanpur when soon after his arrival an ex-corporator, Vikas Jaiswal, heckled him for his “aristocratic ways”. Jaiswal was expelled from the party for six years. But there are others in the party who quietly speak of having to contend with a candidate who people accuse of being a seat hopper.

Kanpur-based Padma Shri Award winner Hindi writer Giriraj Kishore, described Joshi being an "ahankari" (arrogant) as his main drawback. "Hindi writer Kashinath Singh from Varanasi told me that Joshi did not visit Varanasi even once in two years."

Claiming to have known Joshi from Allahabad, Kishore said Joshi's candidature from Kanpur had proved to the advantage of Jaiswal.

Stepping out of the BJP party line, Joshi is keeping to his view of “Abki bar BJP sarkar” instead of “Abki bar Modi sarkar”. Large hoardings asserting his view are all over the city of Kanpur.

Party insiders claim that it is Joshi's controversial stand that has made the BJP workers keep aloof as they are not sure of Joshi's fate after elections and do not want to be seen to close to him.

District president of the Indian Union Muslim League Ishtiaq Ahmad Ansari said the national president of the IUML and Minister of State for External Affairs, E Ahmad, has asked Muslims to vote for Jaiswal.

Hyderabad, April 28
When the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was launched in April 2001 with a single-point agenda of achieving statehood for the backward region, sceptics scoffed at the idea.

The pessimism in political circles was largely because of the failure of a similar experiment in 1969. Even the diehard supporters of the statehood were not willing to bet on the ability of a new political outfit to achieve the goal.

However, after several rounds of agitations, hunger strikes and en masse resignations in the past 13 years, Telangana is a reality now. It will formally come into existence on June 2 after the Assembly elections in the combined state of Andhra Pradesh.

Turning point

It is now accepted in political circles that the long-cherished statehood dream of the people of Telangana would not have come true, but for the dogged determination and indomitable fighting spirit of the TRS, particularly its founder-president K Chandrasekhar Rao. This maverick mass leader's indefinite fast in November 2009 proved to be the turning point in the Telangana agitation that prompted the UPA government to announce initiation of the process for the formation of a separate state.

Despite several political odds that followed the December 9, 2009, announcement, the TRS marshalled its persuasive skills and succeeded in bringing the Telangana issue to the centre stage of the national politics. It got almost all allies of the UPA on board and compelling the central leaderships of the Congress and the BJP to hurry through the process of the passage of the Telangana Bill in Parliament.

For a party that thrived on the statehood sentiment all these years, the TRS is now faced with a new challenge. Now that Telangana has become a separate state, the sentiment is no longer a blank cheque that can be cashed in elections.

The question before the voters in the region, comprising 10 districts, including Hyderabad, is whether the credit should go to the Congress for granting the statehood or to the TRS for leading a sustained fight for the cause.

Statehood sentiment

It is this transformation from an outfit that led an emotional movement to a party that can win seats in an election that the TRS is finding difficult to achieve. Since its earlier strategy was based on arousing regional passions, it has not focused its attention on building organisational structure in the region. As a result, the party is weak in the southern Telangana belt — Hyderabad and its surrounding districts.

“All these years, we were more like a revolutionary organisation. Now, we have turned into a conventional political party. After leading the movement and making sacrifices, we have the right to play a role in the reconstruction of the new state,” says TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. It was the same justification that he offered for going back on his earlier promise of merging his party with the Congress if the Telangana Bill was passed in Parliament.

Risky gambit

After spurning the alliance offer by the Congress, the TRS is going it alone in the elections. Some observers argued that this could be a risky gambit for the regional party as its presence is confined to the north Telangana region, particularly Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Medak districts. It is facing an uphill task to reach the magic number of 60 seats to form the first government in Telangana, which has 119 Assembly seats and 17 Lok Sabha constituencies.

However, during the campaign, the party is positioning itself as the true champion of Telangana and claiming entire credit for achieving the statehood goal. 
“We have suffered enough at the hands of Andhra rulers. Now is the time for self-rule. The TRS is the true voice of the people of Telangana. We alone can ensure all-round development of the new state,” says K Kavitha, daughter of the TRS chief and party candidate from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat.

Poll performance

Past electoral performance of the TRS shows that it has been a bumpy ride for the party. While the party had done well in the by-elections, triggered by en masse resignations of its members, its showing in the General Elections has been far from satisfactory. Its seat tally slipped from five Lok Sabha and 26 Assembly seats in the 2004 elections to two Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats in the 2009 elections. Its vote share in the Assembly has also come down from 6.68 per cent in 2004 to 3.99 per cent in 2009. The party had also switched its alliance partners.

Following Congress president Sonia Gandhi's initiative, the TRS had entered into an alliance with the Congress and the Left in 2004. It was also a part of the UPA-I government, but pulled out in 2006 in protest against delay in the formation of Telangana. In 2009, the party contested elections in alliance with the TDP and the Left.

The political vacuum created by the sudden death of Congress Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy in a helicopter crash in September 2009 was used by the TRS to step up the statehood agitation. The moment of glory for the regional party came on December 9 that year when the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram made a midnight announcement that the process for the creation of Telangana state has been initiated."

In the by-elections held in July 2010, the party won all 11 Assembly seats that it had contested. Again in March 2012, the party won four out of five seats in Telangana where by-polls were held.

This has lent credence to the argument that the party has been growing in strength ever since the statehood movement reached its peak in November 2009. 

New Delhi, April 28
Campaigning ended today for the April 30 Lok Sabha polls in seven states and two union territories where nearly 139 million voters will decide the electoral fate of over 1,200 candidates who are in the fray for 89 Lok Sabha seats.

This is the eighth round of the staggered 10-phase General Election that began April 7 and ends May 12. The votes will be counted May 16.

Simultaneous Assembly polls are scheduled to be held for 119 seats in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. Besides, by-polls are being held in Bihar (one), Gujarat (seven), Uttar Pradesh (two) and one in West Bengal.

Balloting will take place on Wednesday for 17 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, seven in Bihar, 26 in Gujarat, one in Jammu and Kashmir, 13 in Punjab, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, 9 in West Bengal, and one each in the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli as well as Daman and Diu.

Electors in Gujarat and Punjab will be voting for the Lok Sabha seats from the respective states in a single-phase poll.

Gujarat has a maximum of 334 candidates contesting for its 26 parliamentary seats, while the union territory of Daman and Diu has the least number of candidates at a bare four.

In Uttar Pradesh, a keenly watched contest is in Rae Bareli where Congress president Sonia Gandhi is seeking her third consecutive term. She is pitted against Ajay Agarwal of the BJP, Pravesh Singh of the BSP and Archana Srivastava of AAP.

Her BJP counterpart Rajnath Singh is contesting from Lucknow, a seat that has been represented in the past by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Also in contention is veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who, having been eased out of Varanasi by prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, will face the electorate in Kanpur.

Gujarat will witness BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi fight it out against Congress candidate Madhusudan Mistri in Vadodara. Modi is also contesting from Varanasi which will vote May 12.

BJP stalwart Lal Krishna Advani is contesting the Gandhinagar parliamentary seat.

In Jammu and Kashmir, retaining Srinagar appears to be a tough call for union minister Farooq Abdullah, the 78-year old National Conference patron and three-time chief minister.

The constituency has been represented in the past by Abdullah’s mother, Begum Akbar Jahan. His son and state chief minister, Omar Abdullah has represented Srinagar in the Lok Sabha thrice.

Punjab will witness a tough electoral battle with the Congress seeking to make inroads in the ruling Akali Dal-BJP bastions.

The key contenders include BJP candidate Arun Jaitley fighting against Congress nominee Amarinder Singh for the Amritsar seat and Gurdaspur incumbent MP Pratap Singh Bajwa being pitted against three-time BJP MP and actor Vinod Khanna. — IANS

7 states and 2 UTs

* Andhra Pradesh 17 seats

* Bihar 7

* Gujarat 26

* J&K 1

* Punjab 13

* Uttar Pradesh 14

* West Bengal 9

* Dadra & Nagar Haveli 1

New Delhi, April 28
For the Congress, which has been busy reacting to BJP PM nominee Narendra Modi’s jibes this election season, yesterday presented a departure from the norm.

In a rare event, the BJP found itself in the reactive mode with its top leaders releasing a video targeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra’s land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan.

For once, the BJP had been forced to sit up and launch an offensive on the Congress after Sonia’s daughter and party’s star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi Vadra recently teased them saying: “They are habituated to attacking me personally. I will emerge stronger with every attack.”

Smug about BJP’s vicious personal offensive against the Gandhis, Congress leaders today voiced contentment that Priyanka’s magic was working. In fact, top leaders did not rule out her Varanasi visit though they clarified that she would not go there to campaign.

“Who can stop anyone from offering prayers at a temple?” said a senior Congress leader indicating that Priyanka may visit Varanasi as a “pilgrim”. There have been speculations over her likely presence in the high-profile segment from where Modi is contesting. Though Priyanka, two days ago, said she would not campaign in the city, Congress strategists hinted that she may decide to “visit the temple town after all” -- something they feel can create an impact in the seat.

The party, written off by all opinion polls, sees Priyanka Gandhi as a potential weapon in its pursuit to counter Modi’s growing and domineering presence. “It is after all Priyanka who is forcing Modi and his men to react to her jibes more often than any other leader,” said a senior Congress leader.

He was cautious enough to add that both Rahul and Priyanka had been exposing Modi’s real face before the public and that was showing.

Surjewala added that BJP’s video offensive was also a reflection of Congress’ improving condition as polls go by. “Priyanka’s campaign though restricted to two segments is resonating in the country. The BJP is unnerved and the Vadra video reflects that frustration,” he added.

Congress strategists are now giving themselves better numbers in the results adding that BJP’s Vadra “stunt” can be explained by their “below-expectation” performance expected in the northern belt of UP, Bihar and Punjab,” said a Congress leader.

Rahul Gandhi in Uttarakhand today

New Delhi, April 28
The BJP today mounted aggression on the first family of the Congress on land dealings involving Robert Vadra and said it would continue raising questions on the issue till its president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi “came clean”.

A visibly combative BJP expanded its broadside against regional parties: Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party - charging them of assuming role of surrogates of the Congress to arraign against the BJP. “The BJP wants a Congress-mukt Bharat, but they want to perpetuate it,” BJP spokespersons Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Referring to the video documentary on Vadra and a booklet titled ‘Damad Shree: The Vadra get-rich-quick model’ released by the BJP yesterday, she questioned the silence of Sonia and Rahul on Vadra’s land deals.

They occurred in Rajasthan and Haryana during 2005-12 when Congress was in saddle in the two states. The booklet makes 13 posers relating to the deals in Haryana and eight relating to those in Rajasthan.

The BJP’s aggressive posture is in the backdrop of Priyanka’s reaction after the release of documentary in which she had asserted that she will not be cowed down by it. She had also dared the BJP to go its maximum length with its “lies”. She has also taken on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi who had raised the issue of land deals of her husbabd through his “RSVP” jibe during an election rally.

“The Congress leaders throw back challenges to the BJP rather than responding to its questions related to public interest. This smacks of arrogance on the part of the Congress,” she said.

The BJP’s full throttle attack came hours after Rahul attacked Narendra Modi and the BJP for their “divisive politics” during his visit to Punjab. Union Minister Anand Sharma also took potshots at Modi from Kolkata.

No let-up

Dr. Abdullah's recent statements were hilarious. He showcased his ignorance & tried to hide how his family ruined J&K — Narendra Modi

Lastly if Modi lies so much about J&K & it's absence of reservation, RTI. education Etc what else is he lying about when he speaks?  — Omar Abdullah