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key Constituency Sujanpur assembly bypoll
key Constituency Haridwar
Politics is a ‘family affair’ in Andhra Pradesh
BJP blitz in battleground Uttar Pradesh
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Modi will run a bully govt, says Salman Rushdie
Rabri Devi, BJP’s Rudy battle it out in Saran
Maya banks on Muslim candidates
Modi uses caste card; Congress says he is a ‘spinmaster’
Sharad-Nitish spat may dent Third Front hopes
Trouble for Nitish govt: 52 JD(U) MLAs ‘in touch’ with BJP
Poll panel seeks details on Amit Shah's remarks
Jaitley defends Modi’s stance on infiltrators
Giriraj Singh surrenders, granted bail
FIR against Vishwas, Bharti
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key Constituency Sujanpur assembly bypoll Dhumal’s ex-aide’s wife Anita takes on Narinder Thakur, who recently defected from Cong to BJP Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service
The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Rajinder Rana, who had won as an independent in 2012 and is now contesting as the Congress candidate from Hamirpur parliamentary constituency. Rana, the latest blue-eyed boy of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, managed to secure the ticket for his wife (Anita Rana), who is a novice in politics. Having been carved out by merging 42 polling booths, which formed part of the Bamsan assembly segment and 102 booths that were under the Hamirpur assembly seat, this will be the second election from the Sunajpur segment after the delimitation of assembly and Lok Sabha seats in Himachal.
A BJP stronghold
With a sizeable number of areas that earlier formed part of Bamsan segment, represented by former BJP Chief Minister PK Dhumal, Sujanpur is considered to be a BJP stronghold. In fact, Rana, once a protégé of Dhumal, had sprung a surprise when he defeated his nearest Congress rival Anita Verma by a margin of 14,166 votes as an independent after being denied the BJP ticket. The BJP candidate, Urmil Thakur, a former Chief Parliamentary Secretary in the Dhumal regime, stood at the
third position. Though Anita Rana is the Congress candidate, "she is just a proxy nominee with her husband running
the show". Narinder back in BJP
Following sharp differences with Dhumal, he quit the BJP in 2008 to join the Congress to contest the 2009 Lok Sabha election and the 2012 assembly poll against the BJP. CM's 'blue-eyed' boy
With Rana being able to win complete confidence of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he managed to get the Congress ticket for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha for himself and for the assembly seat for his wife. Despite stiff opposition by state Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, the complete backing of Virbhadra ensured that
the Rana couple reign supreme. Urmil-Anita factors
The fact that Rana's BJP opponent in the 2012 poll, Urmil, has joined the Congress and is actively campaigning for Anita Rana has strengthened the ruling party's prospects. Moreover, Urmil is the elder daughter-in-law of Jagdev Chand and is campaigning against her own brother-in-law Narinder. She has herself been a two-time BJP MLA from Hamirpur but moved to the Congress after she was denied the BJP ticket. The preference was given to Narinder following his patch up with Dhumal. Anita Verma, a former minister and two-time MLA, was the claimant for the Congress ticket for the by-poll. Though she did not quit the party and announced her support for Congress nominee Anita, she has not campaigned actively and instead preferred to go and campaign outside the state. The fight is between the Congress and the BJP. The Congress is hoping to gain from the 15-month performance of Rajinder Rana and the complete backing of Virbhadra and Urmil. On the other hand, the BJP is hoping to ride on the "Modi wave" and Jagdev's legacy. But with divisions within the family, the gains could from the legacy could be limited, say analysts. Highs and lows Anita Rana (42) Congress She is a novice in politics, who has been "forced to contest" with Lok Sabha and assembly polls taking place together. Substituting for her husband, she is banking on his 15-month performance as an MLA and backing of Virbahdra. Draws flak for dynastic politics. Narinder Thakur (56) BJP He banks on his father's political legacy. Has a low credibility owing to his shifting political loyalties. And has a tag of a turncoat. Hopes to win with the support of Dhumal, against whom he had once raised a banner of revolt.
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A test of popularity for CM, former CM
Harish Rawat's wife Renuka is pitted against BJP’s Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, AAP’s Kanchan Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service
Haridwar, May 6 Renuka is facing stiff challenge from former BJP Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who is contesting his first Lok Sabha election. Nishank has won five Assembly elections from three segments. The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded former Director General of Police Kanchan Bhattacharya, a 1973-batch IPS officer.
Triangular contest
The entry of Kanchan Bhattacharya in the electoral battle has made the contest triangular. She is focussing on local problems and is targeting the Congress on corruption and inflation. The Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal have fielded relatively weak candidates. The SP has fielded a novice, Anita Saini. BSP candidate Hazi Islam has failed to win over MLAs Surendra Rakesh and Hari Das, who were expelled from the party for indulging in anti-party activities. Hazi Islam has lost Zila Parishad elections twice. Key issues
Harish Rawat is seeking votes for his wife on the three-month performance of his government in the state. Renuka Rawat is trying to corner her BJP rival on the 2010 Maha Kumbh scam. Refuting the allegations, Nishank says more than six crore devotees had taken a holy dip during the mega fair. Nishank also quotes a foreign professor saying that the Uttarakhand government should get a Nobel Prize if there was a category for the management of public events as the Kumbh Mela on April 13-14, 2010. On the other hand, AAP candidate Kanchan Bhattacharya is focussing on corruption, cleaning of the Ganga, transparency in MPLADs fund, flood safety measures and infrastructure development. The SP and BSP are trying to fuel the hill-plain divide by projecting their rivals as outsiders. Assembly segments
Till 2004, the Haridwar constituency has 11 Assembly segments. After delimitation, three Assembly segments of Dehradun - Dharmapur, Doiwala and Rishikesh - were added to it. The 14 Assembly segments are: Haridwar, Bhel Ranipur, Jwalapur (SC), Bhagwanpur (SC), Jhabrera (SC), Piran Kaliyar, Roorkee, Khanpur, Manglore, Laksar, Haridwar (Rural), Dharampur, Doiwala and Rishikesh.
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Politics is a ‘family affair’ in Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad, May 6 Former state Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana has turned out to be the biggest beneficiary in the ruling party as five members of his family have been fielded by the Congress. President of the fledgling YSR Congress Party YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has given ticket to five of his family members, including his mother YS Vijayamma who is contesting from the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency. Jagan himself is seeking election to the Assembly from Pulivendula in Kadapa district, a family stronghold. His maternal uncle P Ravindranath Reddy is the party candidate from the Kamalapuram Assembly seat, while YV Subba Reddy, a close relative, is contesting from the Ongole Lok Sabha constituency. His cousins YS Avinash Reddy and B Srinivasa Reddy are contesting from the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Ongole Assembly seats, respectively. The Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu has fielded his brother-in-law and popular film star N Balakrishna from the Hindupur Assembly seat in Anantapur district. Naidu himself is seeking re-election from Kuppam Assembly constituency in Chittor district, a constituency he has been representing since 1989. Naidu's sister-in-law and NTR's daughter D Purandeswari is the BJP candidate for the Rajampet Lok Sabha seat in Seemandhra region. The former Union Minister had defected to the saffron party just before the announcement of election schedule. The TDP and the BJP have forged electoral alliance this time. Brushing aside widespread criticism that his party was promoting family rule, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) founder-president K Chandrasekhar Rao has fielded his daughter K Kavitha from the Nizamabad parliamentary seat, son KT Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao from Siricilla and Siddipet Assembly seats, respectively. KCR, as the TRS chief is known in political circles, is contesting from the Medak Lok Sabha and Gajwel Assembly seats. Couples in the fray
Six couples are contesting these elections. Former PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana is contesting from Cheepurupalli Assembly segment in Vizianagaram district, while his wife Botsa Jhansi is contesting from the Vizianagaram seat. Union Minister Panabaka Lakshmi is contesting from Bapatla LS seat, while her husband Panabaka Krishnaiah is contesting the Gudur Assembly seat in Nellore district. Another Union Minister K Surya Prakash Reddy is seeking re-election from Kurnool Lok Sabha constituency, while his wife and former MLA Kotla Sujatha is contesting the Aluru Assembly seat in Kurnool district. Former state minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and his wife Padmavathi are contesting from Hujurnagar and Kodad Assembly seats, respectively in Nalgonda district on the Congress tickets. The YSR Congress has fielded B Sobha Nagireddy and her husband B Nagireddy from Allagadda Assembly and Nandyal LS seats in Kurnool district. Shobha died in a road accident during electioneering recently. On behalf of the TDP, K Dayakar Reddy and his wife K Sita Dayakar Reddy are contesting Maktal and Devarakadra Assembly seats, respectively in Mahbubnagar district. The kith and kin
From the BJP, N Janardhan Reddy is contesting from Mahaboobnagar Lok Sabha seat, while his son N Sashidhar Reddy is trying his luck in Nagarkurnool Assembly constituency. On behalf of the YSRCP, former minister P Ramachandra Reddy is seeking election to the Assembly from Punganor in Chittoor district, while his son P Midhun Reddy is contesting from Rajampet Lok Sabha seat in Kadapa district. Senior Congress leader D Rajasekhar is contesting from Vijayawada East Assembly seat and his son D Avinash is seeking election from Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat. From YSRCP, former minister DS Redyanaik is contesting from Dornakal Assembly seat, while his daughter Kavitha is contesting from Mahabubabad Assembly seat in Warangal district. The former PCC chief Satyanarayana's brothers Botsa Appala Narasiah and Botsa Appala Naidu are contesting from the Gajapathi Nagaram and Nellimarla Assembly seats, respectively, while another close relative Ramana Murty is contesting from Vizianagaram Assembly seat. Former Minister A Ramnarayana Reddy (Congress) and his brother Vijaykumar are seeking election from Atmakur and Nellore Rural Assembly seats, respectively in Nellore district, while another close relative AC Subba Reddy is contesting from Nellore City seat. Another Congress leader Komatireddy Venkat Reddy is contesting polls from Nalgonda, while his brother Rajagopal Reddy is seeking re-election from Bhongir LS seat. Congress leader R Venkat Reddy is contesting from Paler Assembly seat in Khammam district, while his brother R Damodar Reddy is seeking election from Suryapet Assembly seat in Nalgonda district. Another Congress leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka is contesting from Madhira Assembly seat in Khammam district and his brother Mallu Ravi is contesting from Jedcharla Assembly seat in Mahabubnagar district. On behalf of the YSRCP, Y Venkatrami Reddy is contesting from Guntakal Assembly seat in Anantapur district, while his brothers Y Balanagi Reddy and Sai Prasad Reddy are seeking election from Mantralam and Adoni Assembly seats in Kurnool district. The YSRCP has fielded M Raj Mohan Reddy from Nellore Lok Sabha seat and his brother Chandrasekhar Reddy from Udaygiri Assembly seat. From Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), party president Asaduddin Owaisi and his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi are seeking re-election from Hyderabad Lok Sabha and Chadrayanagutta Assembly seats, respectively.
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BJP blitz in battleground Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow, May 6 The BJP's "Mission 272 +" is not possible without the party tripling its existing seats in UP from the 2009 tally of 10. This is not possible without the saffron party increasing its tally in the remaining 33 seats in Awadh and Purvanchal regions going to polls on May 7 and May 12, respectively. At present, the BJP holds none of the 15 crucial seats going to polls tomorrow. In Purvanchal, the BJP holds four out of the 18 seats. For BJP's PM nominee Narendra Modi, it's not just to win the Varanasi seat, but to have a rippling effect in the neighbouring seats, thus improving the BJP's prospects in the region. On the same day, party's veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi addressed meetings at Allahabad and Phulpur, Kalyan Singh at Ghosi and Mau and former BJP president Nitin Gadkari at Salempur. On May 6, Modi addressed a string of meetings at Domariaganj, Maharajganj, Bansgaon and Salempur, BJP president Rajnath Singh is at Deoria, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at Ghosi, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Robersganj and Varanasi while Sushma Swaraj at Ballia and Lalganj. Besides, the BJP's 'social media war room' in Lucknow is being run by 150 top professionals and technocrats. This state-of-the-art rural connectivity initiative is using 400 LED video vans, besides social networking sites and SMSes to connect with the rural youth. With the catch line "Modi aane wallah hai', the LED video vans can be seen in small towns. However, special focus of the BJP blitz is on the twin constituencies of Amethi and Varanasi. "In Varanasi, we want Modi's victory margin to enter the Guinness Book of Records," said BJP spokesperson Ashok Pandey. In contrast, breaking the time-tested electoral convention, Modi is campaigning in Amethi, the constituency of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi. Sources said the RSS and BJP were working meticulously in Amethi. Each page of the electoral roll had been handed over to a booth-level trusted "panna palak". This ground-level "panna palaks" are working in tandem with grassroots level BJP leaders. The BJP has set up a media centre catering to the Purvanchal region in Varanasi. Party strategists are micromanaging the entire campaign from here. Party spokesperson and members of the core group are available here round-the-clock to brief the media. A professor and head of the political science department of Benaras Hindu University, Kaushal Kishore Mishra, has taken leave from his regular job to be available at the
BJP media centre round-the-clock.
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Modi will run a bully govt, says Salman Rushdie
"I am pretty concerned about a Modi-run government. The indications that it would be a fairly bullying government are already there. We have already seen journalists and writers being bullied and (the BJP) has not taken power yet," Rushdie told PTI during a session on the importance of freedom of expression at the 10th annual PEN World Voices Festival here. "You already see even more worryingly a kind of self-censorship setting in. People worry that they are going to be bullied and therefore try not to do anything that will attract the wrath of the 'Modistas'," he said. Rushdie said: "There has never been a politician quite like Narendra Modi in India. Given the high likelihood of the BJP winning the national elections and Modi becoming India's next PM, we have to see whether the experience of office serves to moderate him." During his address at the literary festival's opening, Rushdie described Modi as a "highly divisive figure" and a "hardliner's hardliner" and voiced concern that the attacks on freedom of expression and literary works could worsen in an India run by the BJP. He said for India, democracy should not mean just conducting free and fair elections, but also ensuring free speech rights to its citizens. "If freedom of expression is under attack, if religious freedom is threatened and if substantial parts of society live in physical fear for their safety, then such a society cannot be said to be a true democracy," Rushdie said. "In contemporary India, all these problems exist and they are getting worse. The attack on literary, scholarly and artistic freedom has gathered force ever since my book 'The Satanic Verses' was banned," he said. "This already lamentable state of affairs is likely to become much worse if the election results bring to power the Hindu nationalist BJP so that the highly divisive figure of Modi becomes India's next PM," he said. Last month, Rushdie and sculptor Anish Kapoor were among a group of Indian-origin writers, artists and lawyers who had signed an open letter "worrying about Modi's rise to power". Rushdie said: "Following the letter, attacks on us in Indian social media have been relentless and paradoxically validated our fears. We are worried about the arrival of a bullying, intolerant new regime," Rushdie said.
— PTI
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As poll marathon enters last leg, Rahul tears into Modi
Sonbhadra/Mirzapur, May 6 Referring to Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's support to Modi, Rahul said: "When youth from Uttar Pradesh go to Maharashtra in search of employment, they are beaten up by MNS and Shiv Sena activists." During an election rally at Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh, he said: "Modi talks about empowering people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar but joins hands with the MNS and Shiv Sena who threaten people from states. He has one face there and another here." At another rally in Mirzapur, Rahul raked up the issue of attacks on North Indians in Mumbai and accused the BJP of double standards. "Wherever there is a Congress government, there are jobs... in Karnataka, Assam, Haryana, Maharashtra. Youth of Uttar Pradesh go to Mumbai as jobs are available there. But the Shiv Sena, MNS and BJP people thrash them. And here they talk of development," Rahul said. "They engineer riots six months before the elections. They will only make people fight with each other, but won't talk of issues...employment, power, irrigation," he said. Referring to the attack on a Mangalore pub by a right-wing group a few years ago, Rahul said: "On the one hand they (BJP) attack women and on the other, they put up posters of women empowerment." In an oblique reference to snoopgate row, he said women were scared to speak on their phones in Gujarat. "Modi talks about empowerment of women under his government. Don't women have power? They already have power. Give them respect and rest they will do themselves," he said. Sharpening his attack on the BJP, the Congress leader said the BJP wanted an "India Shining" government where wealth was concentrated in the hands of two or three industrialists. The Congress scion was apparently referring to NDA's "India Shining campaign" at the rally in Mirzapur. Rahul said Modi talked about Gujarat model of development but Sikh farmers had been driven out of the state after taking their lands. He alleged that Modi had given 45,000 acres to Adani. Training guns on UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul said: "His government does not talk about welfare of the people or development of UP. You have a young CM, but he also disappointed us. Earlier you had a government led by Mayawati. It also did nothing." The Congress leader said he would not talk about the BJP as it can never do anything good for the people. "I do not have expectations from the BJP as it runs governments for only a handful of people," he said. "Just six months ahead of elections, Muzaffarnagar riots happened. This is what the Opposition does everywhere in the country," he said. "The BJP, BSP or SP can do nothing for the people or for the state. They promote caste or religion-based politics. Only a Congress government can take this state forward," Rahul said.
— PTI
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Rabri Devi, BJP’s Rudy battle it out in Saran
Lalu had represented Saran, also named Chapra seat before delimitation, four times but could not contest this year because of disqualification for 11 years after conviction in the fodder scam case. Lalu, a product of 1974 JP movement, won the seat for the first time in 1977 to arrive on the national political arena. He later won the seat in 1989, 2004 and 2009. Rabri's job, however, will be cut out as she is up against senior BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who had represented Chapra seat in 1996 and 1998 but was humbled twice by Lalu in 2004 and 2009. Rudy is now a Rajya Sabha MP. The JD(U) has fielded Saleem Parvez to attract nearly 1.45 lakh Muslim voters in the constituency. In 2009, Parvez had contested the seat as the BSP candidate and was placed third with 45,000 votes. Yadavs constitute about 3.5 lakh out of a total 15 lakh voters in the seat while Rudy's Rajput
castemen number around three lakh. A licensed pilot, Rudy is hoping to ride the Modi wave to mobile support of upper castes and also sizeable sections of Extremely Backward Castes and Dalits in the wake of LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan forging tie-up with the BJP. A seven-term Lok Sabha MP from Hajipur, Paswan joined the NDA's bandwagon ahead of the announcement of the election schedule for the Lok Sabha two months ago. There are 13.27 lakh voters, including 6.07 lakh women, in Hajipur which is also going to polls tomorrow.
— PTI
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Maya banks on Muslim candidates
Deoria (UP), May 6 Addressing an election rally here, Mayawati, who has fielded 19 Muslim candidates of a total of 80 from Uttar Pradesh, said if all of them won, then THE BSP would emerge as a "balance of power" at the Centre and she might herself become the Prime Minister. If all 19 Muslims candidates won, BSP might work as balance of power at the Centre and if not a Muslim, a "Dalit ki beti" could become the Prime Minister, she said making her prime ministerial ambitions quite clear. Training her guns on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the BSP supremo said the country would witness riots if he was voted to power just as Godhra riots had taken place during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. "When Godhra riots could take place in Gujarat in 2002 during his tenure as Chief Minister, the entire country could face communal riots when he becomes Prime Minister," she said. Raking up the case of slain UP DSP Zia-ul-Haq, who was killed in Kunda while performing his duties, Mayawati hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party government saying those responsible for his murder have not been arrested yet. "The Muslim community should not trust a government which could not give justice to Haq's family," she said.
— PTI
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Modi uses caste card; Congress says he is a ‘spinmaster’
Domariyaganj/New Delhi, May 6 “You can insult Modi as much as you like, you can hang him. But do not insult the lower caste...I was attacked and dubbed as a tea seller as if it I had committed a crime. “Questions were raised as to how he (Modi) can run the country ...I have sold tea not the country,” the BJP prime ministerial candidate said in a sharp riposte to Priyanka’s remark. Addressing a poll rally in Domariyaganj in Uttar Pradesh, Modi also asked whether it was a crime to be born in backward caste. “Did I insult anyone despite being born in backward caste? Such a dirty blame has been put on me,” he said. Earlier in a series of tweets, the Gujarat Chief Minister had hit out at Priyanka Gandhi saying, “As I belong to a socially backward caste, they consider my politics to be of a low level (neech rajneeti).” Congress spokesman and Union Minister Kapil Sibal said Priyanka never made any such insinuation and that she was only referring to the BJP’s “low-level” politics. “He knows that he is misinterpreting. He does it purposefully. That is Narendra Modi. He will give it a spin that has nothing to do with the fact”, he said in New Delhi. Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi alleged that Modi was indulging in “caste politics” in his desperate attempt to garner votes. “It is unfortunate that he distorted Priyanka Gandhi’s comments for political mileage. In the BJP, whether one belongs to upper caste or lower caste, all of them are doing low-level politics,” Alvi said. BJP spokesperson Nirmal Sitharaman said Priyanka was “ill-advised” in using the ‘neech’ expression which was “insulting”. “She (Priyanka) doesn’t understand the negative impact it can have, especially at a time when this country is trying to extricate itself from caste politics,” she said. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the use of the word ‘neech’ should have been avoided since it has been mentioned in the social context of India. Priyanka had yesterday hit out at Modi saying he has insulted her “martyred” father Rajiv Gandhi during his speech in Amethi and accused him of indulging in “low-level” politics.
— PTI
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Sharad-Nitish spat may dent Third Front hopes
The veteran’s high-voltage charge against Kumar, a couple of days ago, indirectly casts aspersions on his own party’s government in the crucial state of Bihar. It has also set the cat among the pigeons in the national capital. He has provided a handle to the aggressive BJP to take on Nitish Kumar. Sharad Yadav’s subsequent rebuttal, however, has not convinced many. The development is pregnant with political significance as Kumar had emerged as one of the rallying points of the proponents of the non-Congress, non-BJP formulation after he walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the wake of the BJP announcing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial nominee. He had openly questioned Modi’s secular credentials, endearing himself to the secular brigade. Even while apologists of the third alternative were grappling to size up the intra-party squabbles in the JD(U), Sharad Yadav and party MP KC Tyagi ruffled more feathers in the party by campaigning today for AAP candidate Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi against Modi. Before leaving Patna for Varanasi, he stated that he would campaign in the holy city from a non-political platform. A senior JD(U) leader, who is close to the Bihar Chief Minister, said Yadav’s “remarks on Kumar were in bad taste”. Also, his campaigning for AAP was not a decision of the party. Significantly, Yadav, who was in the fray on JD(U) ticket from Madhepura in Bihar, hit out at Kumar after the election got over in his constituency. His sudden move against Nitish Kumar has puzzled many as Kumar personally canvassed for him in the constituency. National Secretary of the CPI D Raja said the development within the JD(U) was a matter of concern. However, he said, it would have no bearing on the move to form a third alternative at the Centre. Another leader of the Left said Sharad Yadav spat with Kumar also signals the ill-health of the JD(U).
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Trouble for Nitish govt: 52 JD(U) MLAs ‘in touch’ with BJP
Hussain confirmed that at least “52 JD(U) MLAs” had approached the BJP because of “their unhappiness over the Chief Minister’s autocratic style of functioning”. “He (Nitish Kumar) is operating the party in an autocratic way. He has kept 18 departments with him because he does not trust anybody. If they (JD-U MLAs) are unhappy with him, what can we (BJP) do? It is his behaviour that is causing his MLAs to rebel. No one, even Sharad Yadav, has any freedom in the party. “Yes, JD(U) legislators are in touch with the BJP because they are unhappy with Nitish Kumar’s style of functioning. They are also helping BJP candidates in the election to ensure their victory,” Hussain added. However, he also made it clear that the party would not do anything to topple the government run by friend-turned-foe JD-U, which parted ways after Narendra Modi was elevated in the BJP. Though the Bihar BJP leadership was pushing for a strike, sources said Narendra Modi did not want the state government to be disturbed till the elections were on. Party leaders claim that a majority of JD(U)’s 116 legislators were against Nitish Kumar's decision to quit the NDA alliance “because they saw no future for the party in going alone”. “They are aware that JD(U) is no longer in the race in the Lok Sabha elections, so to ensure that Lalu Prasad Yadav does not return, the JD(U) MLAs are working in large numbers to help the BJP,” Sushil Modi was quoted as saying. In these elections, the BJP has projected Nitish Kumar as a “betrayer”. His problems escalated after Lalu Prasad Yadav successfully managed a comeback, resulting in consolidation of the Muslim-Yadav vote bank behind the RJD-Congress alliance in the state. “If JD(U) performs poorly in the Lok Sabha polls, it is bound to impact the state government,” they say. If BJP leaders can be believed, then the JD(U) (which won 20 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar in 2009 in alliance with the BJP which managed 12 seats) is now fighting for survival. In the last elections, the RJD got four seats and its 2014 ally -- the Congress -- two seats.
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Poll panel seeks details on Amit Shah's remarks
New Delhi, May 6 The EC said it will take any further action after examining the CD and the report to be provided by district poll authorities. Asked whether the poll body has taken cognisance of Narendra Modi's alleged "derogatory" remarks made at an election rally in Domariyaganj in UP today, Deputy EC Vinod Zutshi said the poll body has a system of collecting information from authorities concerned. "After gettingt the report from the district election officer, we will examine it," he said. Shah, who is a close aide on Narendra Modi and BJP's in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, had on Sunday said that Azamgarh has turned into a base of terrorists as there s no fear of the state government, which is advocating their release. He also said that accused in Gujarat bomb blast cases were from
Azamgarh. — PTI
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Jaitley defends Modi’s stance on infiltrators
New Delhi, May 6 The comment came after Narendra Modi was blamed for the recent violence between Bodos and Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam. Jaitley said, "A section of the Congress leadership in Assam had consciously followed the policy of encouraging infiltration since they wanted to offset the domination of ethnic Assamese in Assam." "The fact that every district in Assam adjacent to the Chicken's Neck has witnessed a significant demographic change due to infiltration is a serious security concern," he added. "Any patriotic Indian could be seriously concerned over this. It leads to pressure on economic resources. It is a pressure on land. It impacts national security," he said. |
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Giriraj Singh surrenders, granted bail
Patna, May 6 Singh was out on anticipatory bail granted by District Court judge Virendra Kumar in the case on April 25. A case was lodged against Singh with Patna Airport police station by the district administration for his alleged hate speeches during election campaign. The FIR was lodged at Patna airport police station on April 21 under provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act and the IPC.
— PTI |
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Amethi, May 6 The FIR has been registered agaisnt Vishwas, Bharti, one Satyendra Dubey and Pankaj Shukla at Amethi police station under Section 188 (violation of prohibitory orders) and Representation of People's Act, they said. Though the deadline for campaigning ended in the constituency yesterday at 6 pm, they allegedly continued to do so in violation of rules, the FIR alleged. — PTI
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BJP acute case of premature celebration, says Ramesh SP,
BSP, Cong are one and same: Rajnath Deputy Collector shunted out in Amethi
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Shimla, May 6
The BJP has this time fielded Narinder Thakur, a turncoat and son of former minister Jagdev Chand Thakur, who is trying his luck for the fifth time. He made his unsuccessful electoral debut after the demise of his father in a by-poll in 1994. He also contested the 2003 assembly election from Hamirpur seat as an independent. 
BJP's high-voltage campaigning has now shifted eastwards with top national leaders virtually bombarding the region with election meetings. On May 5, Narendra Modi addressed election meetings at Jaunpur, Machlishahr, Faizabad, Amethi for Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Kaushmbhi and Ambedkar Nagar.
New York, May 6
Saran, May 6
Meanwhile, in Hajipur, another high-profile Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, Paswan is being challenged among others by 93-year-old Ram Sundar Das, the sitting MP from JD(U), and Congress' Sanjeev Prasad Tony.
New Delhi, May 6
New Delhi, May 6
