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Malhera
may give MP first woman CM Jaitley
seeks vote on development Sangh
bid to keep Bhojshala issue alive |
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PM asks
Naxals to join mainstream Digvijay
tries to woo govt staff
RAJASTHAN Rajasthan
staff asked to oppose Congress Jats
hold the key in Pilibanga, Karanpur Rajnath
raises Bofors issue against Sonia RAJASTHAN
DIARY It is
Jogi all the way Corruption:
Sonia takes on BJP EC may
contest CAT order Ensure
fair elections, BJP urges EC Shiv
Sena vows to rid Delhi of B’desh migrants Punjab
Cong MLAs campaign in Delhi Where
Sikh, Sindhi votes will decide the fate IRB
companies on poll duty in Delhi
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Malhera may give MP first woman CM Bada Malehra, November 26 Everyone seems hopeful, if not confident, of giving a woman Chief Minister to Madhya Pradesh this time. Catapulted into prominence due to the nomination of Uma Bharti, Bada Malehra constituency has turned into a hub of political activity with hectic electioneering taking place in this otherwise sleepy town. Banners, flags and graffiti of the BJP loudly proclaims Ms Bharti’s candidature as no match for her opponents — Jagdish Shukla of the Congress and Kapoor Chand Guhara of the CPI. Though development is a major poll issue across the state, the candidature of Ms Bharti in Bada Malehra, which is part of the Bundelkhand region, has pushed it on the back burner. Even the poor, who are least bothered about who wins and who loses, are getting drawn by the hectic electioneering. The seat has been vacated for Ms Bharti by her brother and sitting MLA Swami Prasad Lodi, who is now contesting from Pichore. For Ms Bharti, who will be entering Madhya Pradesh Assembly for the first time, this seat is considered to be the safest with the presence of a large number of voters belonging to Lodhi community. A native of Tikamgarh district in the region, Ms Bharti represents Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho seat in Parliament. Some people are unhappy with Ms Bharti for failing to develop this area when she was a Union Minister. Others complain about her brother’s abrasive attitude. At the same time a majority of people are confident of her success here. “Many MLAs came and went, but this time we will be voting for a probable Chief Minister,” a roadside hawker Arvind says with a smile. All said and done the only hindrance in her smooth entry into the Assembly will be CPI’s Kapoor Chand Guhara. He has represented this seat in the Assembly during 1980-85 and is a popular leader here. Mr Guhara is going round the constituency asking the people whether Ms Bharti has fulfilled the promises that she had made while campaigning for her brother five years back. He also takes a dig at Ms Bharti asking why she did not choose to contest from her home town Tikamgarh? Being associated with the constituency for over three decades, Mr Guhara is drawing good crowds at his public meetings. While BJP nominee and Uma’s brother Swami Prasad had won the seat with 35,251 votes (36.81 per cent) in 1998, the CPI candidate secured 30,868 (31.86 per cent) and the Rajbahadur Singh of the Congress had got 24,409 (25.19 per cent) votes. |
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Jaitley seeks vote on development With
the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections round the corner, Union Law
Minister Arun Jaitley spoke to Tribune staffer S. Satyanarayanan en
route to Guna on how the BJP is banking on development to attain
power. Q: Can lack of development in MP tilt the scales in your
favour? A: The biggest problem for Mr Digvijay Singh is going to
be lack of development and anti-incumbency factor. Mr Digvijay Singh has
turned out to be a "do nothing" Chief Minister. Q: But
Mr Digvijay Singh has a big image in MP. How will you shatter that? A:
One can create a myth to rule, but it is not sustainable. I would like
to refer to the publication "How well the states are doing" by
the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The publication has rated MP as
"D" category state in overall development. Under Mr Digvijay
Singh’s leadership there is no drinking water in many villages,
agricultural yield is declining, there is no road connectivity, school
results are very poor, mortality rate is very high and crime against
women is the highest. Q: But Mr Digvijay Singh has his own way
of tackling development. Your comments. A: MP today does not
suffer from only lack of development. There is poverty for various
reasons. For instance, the suffering due to poor electricity, industrial
production has gone down leading to increased unemployment. The state
appears to have missed the bus of liberalisation. Q: How will
you convince the people to vote on the plank of development? A:
The policies and programmes initiated by Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee started
showing the results within three years even though it was not visible
initially. The job of the government is primarily to provide good
governance and create infrastructure. Economic development comes about
in a certain way. The strength of the policies of Mr Vajpayee has led to
the common people reaping benefits. Q: How will you justify the
leadership of Ms Uma Bharti who is a Hindutva face of the BJP? A:
I have worked with Ms Uma Bharti from close quarters. She may be a
saffron clad "sadhvi" but in MP she is really a mass leader. Q:
What about the image of Mr Dilip Singh Judeo and Mr Narendra Modi? A:
Today, Mr Modi is the most development-oriented Chief Minister. When
Babu (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) or Mr Modi became the Chief
Ministers nobody knew that they were symbols of development. Q:
Mr Digvijay Singh is trying to push you back on Hindutva while you are
trying to push him back on development. A: Hindutva can form
part of an ideology but in today’s context it is not an issue in MP.
Hindutva is part of our ideological personality so there is no question
of our distancing from it. |
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Sangh bid to keep Bhojshala issue alive Dhar/Jhabua, November 26 Activists of the HJM and the RSS are going around Dhar and its adjoining Jhabua district, comprising 11 seats, distributing inflammatory pamphlets and trying to arouse communal feelings among the Hindus by terming the Bhojshala issue akin to the Ayodhya issue. The hold of the HJM in Dhar could be gauged from the fact that the BJP leadership had to bow to the pressure of the organisation and give ticket to a known HJM/ RSS activist, Jaswant Singh Rathore, from the Dhar constituency. Earlier, the BJP had given ticket to Sharad Vijaywargi, a close confidant of Union Minister Vikram Singh Verma. The Congress has renominated Kiran Singh Pawar, who just managed to edge past Vikram Verma by only 147 votes in 1998. According to Nisar Ahmad, an advocate, who is acutely aware of the Bhojshala issue and had been instrumental in helping the Madhya Pradesh Wakf Board in filing a case in the Jabalpur High Court, says that the Hindu outfits are bent upon raising the issue in their bid to polarise voters ahead of the elections. The opening of the gates of the Bhojshala for the darshan weekly once has diluted the issue but as everyone knows the Sangh Parivar outfits want polarisation which could benefit them, Mr Ahmad observed. Moreover, Mr Ahmad asserts that the issue of power and roads have become so prominent that there was no need for the BJP to harp on the Hindutva issue. However, Bhanu Sharma, an HJM activist, asserts that the Bhojshala issue will remain alive till it is handed over to the Hindus. “If for the minorities, Bhojshala is a non-issue why don’t they hand it over to the Hindus completely,” he asks in an aggressive manner. The calculated attempt of the Sangh Parivar outfits to polarise the voters here in Dhar and Jhabua district is also evident from the fact that the HJM had launched its activity in a major way two years back by organising a Hindu convention in the predominantly tribal belt of
Jabhua. |
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PM asks Naxals to join mainstream Jagdalpur, November 26 “Violence or terrorism, from within or outside the country, will not be tolerated,” he said. He was addressing a rally at the Lal Bagh Ground in tribal-dominated and naxal-infested Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. He urged the Naxal youth to abjure violence and enter the democratic set-up. “If you have to succeed, you’ll have to join the rest. Violence will not be allowed,” he asserted. He also lashed out at the Congress. He said Congress governments had always ignored infrastructure development. The BJP was able to achieve in five years what the Congress could not in as many decades, he said. “After 56 years of Independence, why don’t we have proper roads everywhere? Why are people facing power paucity and why is there a water crisis,” he said. He said the NDA government had emphasised on infrastructure development and the Golden Quadrilateral project, which would link four metros, was an example of that. He said the country’s foreign exchange reserves had touched an all-time high and, to combat the water problem, a river-inter-linking project was being worked out. “We have a plentiful stock of foodgrain and are even exporting it. Today, we are a powerful nation and the world is looking at us,” he said. “Nobody can ignore us. I thank the scientific community for developing the country,” he added. He urged the people of Chhattisgarh to vote for the BJP.
— UNI |
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Digvijay tries to woo govt staff Bhopal, November 26 Mr Digvijay Singh appears to have become aware of the employees’ antipathy when employees refused to even listen to the Congress candidate from Bhopal (South), Mr P.C. Sharma, near Vallabh Bhavan. Mr Sharma is the sitting MLA from the constituency, inhabited by a large number of government employees and has always projected himself as pro-employee.
— OC |
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RAJASTHAN Jhalawar, November 26 The two main contenders for forming the next government in this state — Mr Ashok Gehlot (Congress) and Ms Vasundhra Raje (BJP) have nothing in common — whether it is the caste, the background or even the style of campaigning. Hailing from the royal family of Gwalior and daughter-in-law of the royal family of Dholpur in the Jat belt of this state, Ms Vasundhara Raje is not carrying all royalty luggage that she is known to carry with her but her royal style of dressing up remains the same even while
addressing the common man. She wears the same coloured bangles and slippers as is the colour of her saree. And she carries three mobile phones. One to talk to senior BJP leaders, the second to be in constant touch with the party candidates in the state and the third to remain in touch with party workers and most importantly with the media. She picks up all phones herself and constantly monitors the progress of the party . She travels by helicopters to villages or other far-flung constituencies for addressing rallies. She eats food kept in hot boxes inside the choppers while travelling from one village to an other. She drinks mineral water. People closely associated with her in the
campaign disclose that she is not changing her dress so often during the day as she used to do during "Parivartan Yatra". Whenever she feels uncomfortable she goes to a party worker’s house to change clothes. In her rallies she does not forget attacking the Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and charging him with lack of development and shielding criminals in the state. However she calls him a magician, pointing out that his magic is not going to work this time
round. On the other hand, Mr Ashok Gehlot wears simple clothes, most of the time a white kurta pyjama and talks to people in the common language. He does not mention Vasundhara Raje in his speeches and neither does he make tall claims. He also does not bring about adulation in his voice. All he talks is about development which his government has carried out in the past five years. He talks of the new roads, schools and hospitals that have come up in the state, treating his audience as a Headmaster does his students. There are no huge cheers or slogan-shouting at his rallies. He does not make an effort to enter into a conversation with the people but keeps urging them that if they want further development so as to bring Rajasthan into the category of developed states, they must vote for the Congress. He stops at any house in the village for a glass of ‘chach’, would just pick a small piece of jaggery (gur), put it in his mouth to keep his throat clean and keeps walking. People say he does not look like a Chief Minister. Ms Vasundhara Raje, however, spends a lot of time explaining her position. She talks of not being an outsider but actually the ‘bahu’ of a state. She challenges Ms Sonia Gandhi to contest against her. She establishes a one-to-one conversation with the people. There is a lot of cheering and slogan-shouting at her rallies. And she attracts large crowds. However, all that glitters is not gold. There have been instances in the past where leaders attracting huge crowds have failed to form the government. |
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Rajasthan staff asked to oppose Congress Jaipur, November 26 The Gehlot Government, crushing the employees' strike, deprived them of bonus, leave and other cash benefits, Mr Vyas claimed, Every employee lost about Rs 40,000 over the past five years, he claimed. "We do not know which party will assume power, but any one promising benefits to us will get our votes," he said, adding that the BJP had given indications to revise all perks and benefits in favour of employees in its manifesto. Mr Bajrang Prasad of the Rajasthan Teachers Union (Sandhaya faction), who also addressed reporters, said about 60,000 posts were lapsed after retirement of the incumbents and the government did not provide a single job in the youth.
— PTI |
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Jats hold the key in
Pilibanga, Karanpur Pilibanga/Karanpur, November 26 The contest in Karanpur is more interesting since it is the lone seat that is being contested by the SAD -INLD alliance. SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal and Haryana Chief Minister O.P. Chautala have addressed several election rallies here in the past many days. The alliance candidate is Rajasthan SAD president Surjit Singh Kang, while the Congress has re-nominated sitting MLA Gurmeet Singh Kooner. The BJP has fielded Surinderpal Singh, while the CPM candidate is Gurcharan Singh Mour. All are Jat Sikhs. More than 40 per cent voters in the constituency are Sikhs. As such, this seat has always been retained by Sikh candidates of different parties, since the first state Assembly elections in 1952. The Akalis have won only once, in 1990. Similarly, the going is tough for the Congress nominee in Pilibanga. The sitting Congress MLA Harchand Singh Sidhu was denied the ticket this time fuelling infighting in the party. Party candidate Jagtar Singh Kang is a three-time legislator from Karanpur who was asked to contest from the neighbouring Pilibanga. He is finding it hard to take the party rank and file with him. His is also countering the Jat factor, as his main opponent is Ganga Jal Meel, a wine contractor, who is the BJP candidate. Before joining the BJP, just two weeks before the announcement of elections, he was an office-bearers of the Congress. His selection had raised many eyebrows in the party circles. As such the disgruntled elements within the party are trying to sabotage his campaign. Another strongman, Sahib Ram Punia, also a Jat, is contesting as an Independent candidate. The sole factor in the favour of Jagtar Singh Kang is that in the fight between Jats, he might scrape through as Sikhs form 17 per cent of the total electorate in the constituency. |
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Rajnath raises Bofors issue against Sonia Kota (Rajasthan), November 26 He said Dilip Singh Judeo resigned from the Union Cabinet the day the ‘baseless’ charge of bribery was levelled against him, but Mrs Gandhi had been maintaining silence over Jogi.
— PTI |
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RAJASTHAN
DIARY IT is tough going for the BJP in Rajasthan and everybody, including workers, feel that it is going to be a close contest. As the VHP has decided to keep itself away from the election, its leaders are not addressing any rallies. BJP workers feel that besides Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, VHP leaders should also have come to Rajasthan. It can have tilted the scales in favour of the BJP, they say. Seeking leave from poll duty A number of government employees are trying to get away from election duty on one pretext or the other. Some are trying to avoid it on health ground, while others are citing family reasons for the same. According to officials of the State Election Commission, more than 2,500 such applications have already been received. Some applicants have attached medical prescriptions and medicine bills with their applications to stress that their case was genuine.
— TNS |
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It is Jogi all the way In several urban areas there is a perceptible dislike for Mr Jogi. Voters in rural areas are being swayed by caste and ethnic affinities. Electronic voting machines will be used in the elections for the first time. Whether it is running of the state administration or the affairs of the Congress organisation in Chhattisgarh, nothing seems to move without Mr Jogi’s consent. Some IAS and IPS officers in the state, a few of them in districts, are famous for their closeness to the Chief Minister. Mr Jogi’s son, Amit Jogi, is fast earning a reputation of being involved in his father’s work. Many Congressmen resent Mr Jogi’s “centralised” style of working and there is heartburn among older party leaders over his getting total say in the choice of party candidates. Ten of the 12 BJP MLAs who had defected to the Congress have been given tickets by Mr Jogi as well as some Independents who had contested the last poll against party’s official candidate. Frustrated Congressmen have joined the Nationalist Congress Party and are giving a tough fight to the Congress in several seats. In the past three years, Mr Jogi has made strong efforts to identify himself with the tribals, the Dalits and other weaker sections. He has been visiting tribal areas for small inaugurations even as most of his ministers have functioned in relative anonymity. It is an indication of Mr Jogi’s style of working that no senior leader from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh has so far campaigned in the state. Mr Arjun Singh, who has a following among people, has kept away from Chhattisgarh as has Mr Kamal Nath. None of Congress Chief Ministers, Capt Amarinder Singh, Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mr N.D. Tiwari, have visited Chhattisgarh although they have been campaigning in other states. Congress Working Committee member Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is in charge of Chhattisgarh, has campaigned in the state for a few days around the two dates Congress President Sonia Gandhi has visited Chhattisgarh. Mr Jogi has had three AICC leaders as in charge of Chhattisgarh in the past three years. Compared to the BJP which has pushed all its top leaders for campaigning in the state, including Mr Arjun Munda, Chief Minister, Jharkhand, Mr Jogi has refrained from seeking extra help. |
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Corruption: Sonia takes on BJP Raipur, November 26 Addressing two election meetings in the state, she said the BJP was “playing politics of hatred” and the poor and downtrodden had suffered during its four-year tenure. “The activities of the BJP and the organisations associated with it are posing a threat to social fabric of the country,” she said here during the second leg of her campaign. Ms Sonia Gandhi alleged that scams and corruption had become rampant under the NDA government and its ministers had “exceeded all limits of corruption”. “The Prime Minister and other BJP leaders gave lame excuses to defend the minister concerned. The people of Chhattisgarh and the rest of the country know the reality...the truth will not change,” she added. Warning people to be “alert” against forces which were trying to divide them for political gains, the Congress President said peace and harmony should be maintained. Ms Sonia Gandhi said it was the BJP’s habit to raise emotive issues during elections and unleash propaganda against Congress leaders. “They succeeded in the last general elections and cobbled a coalition government at the Centre. But what is the result,” she said. The Congress chief accused the government of having failed to fulfil its election promise of creating employment opportunities and eliminating poverty. The promise wad of one crore jobs for the youth. But what happened? Did anyone of you got job because of the initiative taken by the Centre? she added. She said the government was openly discriminating against people and misleading them. The Centre did not provide adequate relief to the people of Chhattisgarh, even though the state government pleaded for help, she said.
— UNI |
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EC may contest
CAT order New Delhi, November 26 A Division Bench of the tribunal at Jabalpur yesterday held that the EC order was “not only illegal, improper but against all the settled tenets of law and said it did not find anything prejudicial on the part of the Collectors to have violated the model code of conduct.”
— PTI |
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Ensure fair elections, BJP urges EC New Delhi, November 26 “A BJP delegation will meet the Chief Election Commissioner tomorrow to draw his attention to the possibility of trouble in the states going to the polls and the need to take steps to ensure that there is free and fair polling and it passes off peacefully,” party President M. Venkaiah Naidu told a press conference, making a trip to the Capital in the midst of electioneering. Mr Naidu, who briefed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee here this morning on the election campaign and the party’s poll prospects had conducted a review meeting with party Vice-President Bal Apte, General Secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and state leaders on the “party’s electoral prospects.” In the coming three days, the BJP chief said the party’s top leaders would step up campaign in these states with the emphasis continuing to be on development and good governance. Mr Naidu said the focus of the campaign in the assembly elections had been on development and good governance. “Our focus has been on issues like road, power, irrigation, education and health,” he said. Lashing out at the Congress, he said the party was trying to “divert” attention by indulging in all kinds of “dirty tricks” and the episode involving BJP leader Dilip Singh Judeo would “boomerang” on it. The CBI was probing the Judeo issue “truth will come out soon”. Mr Naidu accused the Congress of adopting double standards, saying that while it accused BJP leaders it did nothing against its leaders like Mr Jogi who had “produced false certificates”. He wondered why the Congress was “afraid” of facing a CBI probe into the multi-crore Telgi stamp paper scam which involved about 10 states. |
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Shiv Sena vows to rid Delhi of B’desh migrants New Delhi, November 26 Releasing the manifesto at a press conference, Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party leader Chandrakant Khaire and Delhi party chief Jai Bhagwan Goel hoped that the Shiv Sena would emerge as the third alternative to the Congress and the BJP in the national Capital. The manifesto regretted rampant corruption, insecurity of women, deteriorating crime situation, massive unemployment, poor power and water supply and harassment faced by shopkeepers and transporters. The document, named ‘vachannama (pledge)’, also promised full statehood to Delhi, reservation in government jobs and education based on economic criteria, regularisation of unauthorised colonies, 24-hour power and water supply, rehabilitation of displaced small-scale industrial units and job opportunities for youth, including a low rate of interest on loans for starting self-employment ventures.
— PTI |
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Punjab Cong MLAs campaign
in Delhi New Delhi, November 26 Higher Education Minister Harnam Dass Johar and PPCC Vice-President Avtar Singh Brar have been made in charge of the campaign in Punjabi and Sikh-dominated areas in Delhi. The Punjab ministers and MLAs are undertaking padyatras and addressing gatherings along with the party candidates. Among those camping in the Capital include Education Minister Prof Darbari Lal, Vice-President of the youth Congress, Gurkirat Singh, PPCC General Secretary, Parminder Singh and PPCC Secretary Lakhwinder Singh. |
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Where
Sikh, Sindhi votes will decide the fate Indore, November 26 With about 2.66 lakh voters comprising Sikhs, Sindhis, Brahmins and Dalits or backward castes in the constituency, the combined strength of about 50,000 has made the Sikhs and Sindhis a deciding factor here. The Congress and the BJP are focusing hard on winning the support of these two communities. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has already addressed one rally and is likely to address one more just before the polling date. Even in the worst times, this seat has gone in favour of the BJP with the Sikh community identifying themselves with it ever since the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. However, this time the Congress is expecting a change in the attitude of the community in line with other parts of the country, especially Punjab. While the BJP has renominated its sitting MLA, Mr Laxman Singh Gaur, for the third consecutive time, the Congress has given the ticket to Mr Lalit Jain, who has a clean image. Jain voters are sizeable in this constituency. Although there appears to be a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP, others like the NCP, the RJD, the Samajwadi Party and the Republican Party are also trying their luck, besides five Independents. While the business community, which includes Sikhs, Sindhis and Jains, has been voting for the BJP, the minorities have been fully backing the Congress. Indore has eight seats of which five are in the city and the other three in the adjoining urban villages. In the last elections, the Congress had bagged six of the eight seats while two seats — Indore 2 and Indore 4 — went to the BJP. |
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IRB companies on poll duty in Delhi Amritsar, November 26 The Inspector-General (IRB), Mr P.M. Dass, said the five companies that were sent to Delhi had been deployed in Pitampura, Rohaila Sarai, Shantivan and Krishan Nagar areas. He said the government had sanctioned the raising of two more IRB battalions and the process for raising the first such battalion had already begun. |
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Raipur, November 26