NEW DELHI: As part of meetings to discuss the BJP’s post-poll strategy, party President Rajnath Singh on Thursday met RSS leader Suresh Soni.

Sources said the party is considering drastic changes in the organisation in the wake of its possible government formation.

Besides revamp of the party, Singh and Soni, who is RSS point man for the BJP, discussed the political situation that is likely to emerge after Friday’s results announcement and roping in of some more allies.

The BJP has already made it clear that its doors are open for any party supporting its agenda.

The meeting at Singh’s residence was also attended by BJP leaders in charge of the organisation, including party’s general secretary Ramlal.

The meeting comes close on the heels of Singh’s meeting with BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, where other senior leaders Arun Jaitley and former party chief Nitin Gadkari were also present.

While the BJP top brass is working out roles for party veterans, including L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, in the next government, it is also working on changes within the party that includes the change of guard steering the party.

Sources said in case Singh is given a ministerial berth, then the reins of the party will be handed over to someone else and the name of Gadkari is doing the rounds.

The meeting comes ahead of counting of votes on Friday in which the BJP-led NDA is projected to win a majority. — PTI

AIADMK expels former Rajya Sabha MP Malaisamy

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Thursday expelled former Rajya Sabha MP K. Malaisamy who had recently said that Narendra Modi was a “good friend” of hers.

A party statement said Malaisamy has been removed from the primary membership of the AIADMK for violating party discipline and for bringing disrepute to its image.

The drastic action came apparently against the backdrop of a statement by the former IAS office describing the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi a “good friend” of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

Malaisamy had also said the AIADMK would play a vital role in the Modi government after the results are announced.

Jayalalithaa, who is yet to disclose her political moves, had said on Wednesday she would reserve her comments until the election results are announced. — PTI

HYDERABAD: An uneasy calm prevailed in riot-hit areas of Hyderabad on Thursday, a day after paramilitary troopers opened fire killing three people following communal clashes that left scores injured.

An indefinite curfew continued in Kishan Bangh, Sikh Chowni and Arsh Mahal areas of the Cyberabad police commissionerate.

The police said the situation remained peaceful. No untoward incident was reported since Wednesday morning, when Border Security Force (BSF) personnel opened fire on a mob.

A large number of policemen and paramilitary forces maintained a tight vigil in the areas, which were rocked by clashes early Wednesday after a religious flag was allegedly found burnt.

The dead were buried late Wednesday amid tight security. Eight persons who received bullet injuries and others were who were injured in the attacks by the mob were undergoing treatment in hospitals.

The police have also beefed up security in the old city areas abutting riot-hit neighbourhood.

The BSF action of opening fire has come under severe public criticism. The residents of Arsh Mahal alleged the security force opened fire on them without a warning.

The residents, majority of whom are daily wage labourers, alleged that both the rioters and the police targeted them. According to them, policemen were mute spectators when a mob armed with swords attacked them and set afire their houses, shops and vehicles but and when they gathered to protest police fired on them.

The Cyberabad police had sought help of BSF personnel, who were deployed in the city during elections. A police official had asked the BSF to open fire when a group had gathered near a hillock.

However, it was not clear if the police official asked the BSF personnel to open fire in the air or on the mob. Some officials admitted the situation could have been controlled without firing on the people.

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has demanded judicial probe into the police firing. In a letter to governor ESL Narasimhan, MIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of the high court.

Owaisi alleged the police failed to act when an armed mob attacked the houses of a particular community but asked the BSF to open fire when some people pelted stones as a means of self-defence. — IANS

NEW DELHI: In a sudden twist in the Sahara group case, Supreme Court judge Justice J.S. Khehar has recused himself from hearing the matter, following which a new Bench has been constituted.

A "communication dated May 6, 2014, received from Justice J.S. Khehar was placed before the Chief Justice of India on May 7. On May 7 itself, the CJI has been pleased to constitute another Bench to hear the matter relating to Sahara Group....," Rakesh Sharma, Deputy Registrar of the apex court, said in a release on Thursday.

The release, read out by the official at a press conference here, said Justice Khehar had written a letter the day when he and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan decided a petition filed by Sahara group chief Subrata Roy.

Justice Radhakrishnan, who retired on May 14, has gone on record saying that the Bench was "under immense pressure" in the Sahara case.

The SC official, however, did not disclose the details of the new Bench which will now hear the petitions relating to Sahara group.

The Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and J.S. Khehar in its May 6 judgment had upheld its order jailing Subrata Roy and rejected his claim that rules of natural justice were not followed in the case.

The 65-year-old Roy, who has been in jail since March 4 for non-refund of over Rs 20,000 crore to depositors, was asked by the court to make a fresh proposal for paying Rs 10,000 crore to get bail.

The court had passed the order on a petition filed by Roy challenging constitutional validity of its order passed on March 4 by which he was sent to jail for not complying with its order to deposit around Rs 20,000 crore of investors money with Sebi.

The Bench in a strongly-worded judgment had come down heavily on the Group for "systematically" frustrating and flouting all its orders with impunity on refunding investors' money.

It had said the Group "adopted a demeanour of defiance constituting a rebellious behaviour, not amenable to the rule of law" and justified its decision to send Roy along with two promoters of two Sahara companies to jail. — PTI

LS poll: Counting of votes tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Votes polled in the nine-phased Lok Sabha elections will be counted tomorrow to decide who will form the next government.

The Election Commission said the counting exercise to be held at 989 counting centres is likely to be completed by 5 pm and trends will be available by 11 am.

By noon, a final picture could emerge on who would be the major players in the 16th Lok Sabha.

Nearly 8,000 candidates, including top guns Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, were in the fray in the largest-ever electoral exercise held in Indian history.

The exit polls have projected that the BJP will emerge as the single largest party.

The counting of votes will begin at 8 am when the postal ballots will be counted. According to EC guidelines, half-and-hour after the postal ballots are counted, the process of counting votes from the EVMs will begin.

The 'ballot unit' is switched on in the presence of senior poll officials and counting agents of candidates and the result command keyed in to get results per machine.

These were the first Lok Sabha elections when the option of 'None of the above' or NOTA was introduced on the EVMs following Supreme Court directions to ensure secrecy of voters who use this option.

Before NOTA button was installed on EVMs, voters had to fill in Form 49 'O' at the polling station which compromised their identity.

Where a paper trail audit or 'voter-verified paper audit trail' (VVPAT) has been used, the counting agent can call for a count of the paper slips in the drop box attached to the voting machine, but a final count is taken by the returning officer.

The polling in all phases was by and large peaceful barring a few incidents by Maoists and some poll-related violence.

The General Election 2014 witnessed the highest-ever turnout with 66.38 per cent of an estimated 814 million voters exercising their franchise — the highest ever in the history of General Election. 

Once the results are declared, the names of the winning candidates will find mention in the gazette to be issued by the Election Commission.

The gazette notification will initiate the process to form the next Lok Sabha.

The campaign held in blistering heat in several parts of the country was replete with barbs by various political leaders.

During the high decibel campaign marked by vitriolic accusations, Modi constantly targeted Rahul as 'shehzada' and the UPA dispensation as the 'mother-son' government besides going after Sonia's son-in-law Robert Vadra over alleged land deals.

He also hurled barbs at the UPA government, saying it represented the 'ABCD' of corruption, referring to Adarsh, Bofors and Coal scams. He also took an 'RSVP' jibe at the Nehru-Gandhi family, saying 'R' stood for Rahul, 'S' for Sonia, 'V' for Vadra and 'P' for Priyanka.

He often ridiculed his rival parties for having a one-point "Stop Modi" agenda.

The BJP Prime Ministerial candidate also had his share of criticism with several leaders taking him on in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

The Trinammol Congress in West Bengal called Modi the "butcher" of Gujarat after he escalated his attack against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying there is no "poribartan" in the eastern state.

Taking the political battle to an all-time low, SP leader Azam Khan called Modi an elder brother of a "dog's pup", while Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma of Congress dubbed the Gujarat Chief Minister as the "biggest goon" of RSS. Verma had also dubbed Modi as a "monster".

Sonia and Rahul put Modi in the crosshairs over alleged favours given to the Adani group in land deals and claimed that he favoured only select industrialists. Rahul hurled "balloon" and "toffee model" barbs at the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate.

The Congress also attacked Modi for constantly harping on the Gujarat model of development, claiming there has been no development at all in the western state during his rule.

Priyanka was also brought into the campaign by the Congress towards the later stage and managed to energise the cadres in UP. But she confined her campaign to Amethi and Rae Bareli. — PTI

ABUJA: Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has ruled out the release of Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the freedom of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the militants a month ago.

Britain's Africa minister Mark Simmonds, in Nigeria for talks about the international rescue mission, told reporters on Wednesday that he raised the issue with Jonathan during a meeting in Abuja.

"I did discuss this with the president and he made it very clear that there will be no negotiation with Boko Haram that involves a swap of abducted schoolgirls for prisoners", he told reporters.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau suggested in a video released on Monday that he may be prepared to release the girls if Nigeria freed militants held in the country's jails.

Interior Minister Abba Moro immediately rejected the plan, telling AFP that the Islamist group, which has waged a deadly insurgency in northeast Nigeria since 2009, could not dictate terms.

A door appeared to have opened to discussions about the girls on Tuesday, when special duties minister Taminu Turaki indicated that the teenagers' freedom could up for discussion.

Simmonds said Jonathan had now ruled that out, he added that the president was still prepared to fulfil his pledge of talking to the extremists about wider issues to end the violence.

The rejection of a prisoner swap came as international powers ramped up the search effort, including with the use of US military surveillance drones and manned aircraft.

The Pentagon said it had deployed the robotic Global Hawk, which flies at high altitude, and the manned MC-12, a propeller plane heavily used in Afghanistan.

Both types of aircraft are "unarmed" and strictly being used for surveillance.

However, the data is not yet being shared with the Nigerians because Washington is still working out an agreement to govern the sharing of intelligence, Colonel Steven Warren told reporters

Hawkish Republican Senator John McCain said the Pentagon should consider acting unilaterally and sending US special forces in to rescue the girls.

He mocked the capabilities of Nigeria's military and said any special forces entry to deal with the Boko Haram "animals" should be done without their knowledge.

US military officials said privately that a rescue mission would be fraught with massive risks and dangers and that it currently was not deemed an option.

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament a Sentinel surveillance aircraft and a military team would be sent to Abuja to assist in the search.

France, Israel and China are also involved, with the hunt focused on the Sambisa forest area of Borno state, although there are fears the girls may have been split up and taken to neighbouring Chad or Cameroon.

Worldwide interest has been growing in the plight of the missing girls after 276 teenagers were abducted from their school in the remote northeastern town of Chibok on April 14. A total of 223 are still missing.

Jonathan's office said he had received "solidarity calls" from the prime ministers of Algeria, Abdelmalek Sellal, and Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif.

In Paris, President Francois Hollande's office said the leaders of Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad would meet with Jonathan in the French capital on Saturday for a security summit.

Representatives from the European Union, Britain and the United States would also attend, the Elysee said.

"The meeting will discuss... how to cut off (Boko Haram) by intelligence, how to train to fight and drive out the killers," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius added.

Jonathan on Tuesday requested parliamentary approval for a six-month state of emergency first imposed in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states on May 14 last year.

Lawmakers in the lower House of Representatives began discussing the issue while senators from the upper chamber summoned the ministers of defence and police affairs, military and security chiefs to brief them on Thursday.

By law, the request has to be approved by two-thirds of both chambers.

The extension request was widely expected but its effectiveness has been questioned.

The governor of Yobe state, however, voiced his opposition to extending the state of emergency and it is likely that Borno and Adamawa will follow suit.

All three states are run by the main opposition All Progressives Congress party, which is eyeing power in next year's general election.

Attacks have increased on rural areas leading to mounting civilian casualties. More than 1,500 are estimated to have been killed this year alone.

Security analysts have urged Nigeria to improve its counter-insurgency tactics including more use of intelligence, instead of just conventional means, to defeat guerrilla fighters.

International military leaders hope their expertise could help refine Nigeria's tactics against Boko Haram. — AFP