Tewari’s fight is issue based

THE Congress candidate, Mr Manish Tewari, says that he is contesting the election on issue-based politics. He sums up his campaign saying: “Let the best candidate win”. Happy with the response he has got from the local Congress leadership and party workers, he says that the feedback from the electorate has been equally encouraging.

“I will not stoop low and make personal comments on any rival candidate. We are aware of the mud-slinging my rivals are indulging in to mislead the voters, but I believe in clean and transparent politics. I will not lower myself to a level that is unbecoming of a person on whom lakhs of people entrust their representation in Parliament”, says Mr Tewari. He stresses that strength of character is the most vital characteristic of a leader and this is where the statesmen of yore differ from most politicians of today.

Taking the sting out of his detractor’s criticism terming him as an outsider in the constituency, Mr. Tewari says that he is both a victim of militancy as well as a champion of Punjabiat. His father Dr V.N. Tewari, an eminent Punjabi literary figure, was gunned down by militants in 1984, but instead of turning bitter, he has pledged to further the cause of Punjab that his father was so fondly pursuing. “My father hailed from Do Burji in Ludhiana district and my mother is the daughter of Tirath Singh Gurum, who was a minister in Pepsu and the Punjab Government for three decades. My roots are firmly embedded in this soil”, he says.

Mr Tewari makes no bones about his proximity to party President Sonia Gandhi and her family. “The party high command has a lot of faith in the youth leaders, but I was picked up for the Ludhiana seat on the basis of my capabilities rather than my closeness to the people who matter”.

Having started his career from the grassroot, Mr Tewari has been president of the National Student Union of India (NSUI), secretary, All-India Congress Committee (AICC), president, Indian Youth Congress (IYC), and the first ever Asian to be elected president of the International Union of Students, an organisation of 93 bodies that includes the UN, Unesco, WHO and UNHRC.

His poll strategy is simple. “No guile, no misleading anyone. I simply tell the voters not to get misled by slogans like India shining and the feel good factor. Every franchise must exercise his or her vote with caution to elect a candidate that is able to represent them well in Parliament and to help them solve their problems. Being an industrial and economic hub that also excels in foodgrain production, Ludhiana needs someone who understands the civic problems as well as the implications of the WTO on the local manufacturers equally well”.

Dhillon banks on being local 

FOR the Akali Dal nominee, Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, the poll campaign has come around to one slogan that says “Delhi versus Ludhiana”. A political greenhorn, Mr Dhillon managed to secure the party nomination due to his proximity to party general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal. But he is determined to sweat it out and prove his mettle. He is seeking votes on the ground that he has been a local resident and knows the rural and urban areas well.

“Besides”, he says, “it is for the people to see the development in the past five years by the Akali-BJP government and compare it with the total lack of development during the two years of the Congress regime. People are aware about this fact and I am only trying to remind them of what Mr Badal did during his term as Chief Minister”.

Trained to be a lawyer, Mr Dhillon argues his case well at most public meetings and in the next three days he would have covered the entire rural segment of the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency. “I tell the people that Ramoowalia is from Faridkot and Tewari from Delhi, so they must vote for their own ‘desi munda’”, he says adding that he has the advantage of starting his campaign ahead of the others.

For him, the most important issues are the “growing corruption” by Congress leaders that has been “exhibited in the auction of liquor shops and selection of DSPs”. But there is nothing really negative he has to say about the Congress nominee. “Firstly, I do not want to say anything bad about anyone and secondly since there is hardly anything known about Mr Tewari, what can I say. But about Mr Ramoowalia, I can certainly say that he is misleading people by his histrionics”.

Mr Dhillon feels that the Vajpayee factor is playing a very important role in these elections. It is Sonia versus Vajpayee at the national level and the same hold true here. Spelling out his strengths, Mr Dhillon says that he has been a worker of the party for many years and has interacted with people of all shades and hues.

Ramoowalia goes with vikas, insaaf

FOR maverick politician and former union minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, the parliamentary poll will be a barometer of the popularity and acceptance of his Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) among the masses.

The MP from Faridkot and Sangrur made an impressive showing in the panchayat elections and is confident of providing a third front based on ideology. He is the candidate of the party which has seen the participation of a large number of women, especially those deserted or cheated by their NRI grooms.

He says he will fight the poll on the ‘vikas and insaf’ issues: development of villages and justice for the ignorant masses. No party has touched these issues in the past since the stress was to create groups in each village and target those villages which returned the opposition-backed candidates to power. The outcome was that while the villages of the ruling regime cornered all grants, the others were ignored for five years, he pointed out.

The former Union Minister for Social Welfare said his party was not pursuing any big political agenda but was concentrating on the various socio-economic issues. “Which party is today concerned at the rising unemployment, rising expenses of education, drug abuse or the general lack of direction in the youth?” he questioned.

He feels that his fight was with the Akalis in the villages and with the Congress in the cities. The going is good for him since the candidate of the former is a weak candidate while the latter is an outsider and a political greenhorn, he adds.

Commenting on his achievements, he said more than 10,000 girls had been saved from the clutches of greedy in-laws and fraudulent NRI grooms in the past five years. The craze to send their families abroad also saw many families giving Rs 5-14 lakh in dowry. “We have taken up hundreds of cases where the dowry amount was returned.

Unfortunately, the law is prejudiced against the brides since the property of the fraudulent grooms could not be attached in India and they could also not be brought to justice since such crimes do not come under the ambit of the extradition treaties,” he pointed out.

“The LBP is not only committed to taking up the cause of the farmers, but will also strive to provide a better deal for the Punjabi youth stranded abroad, besides ensuring that girls who marry abroad are not harassed on any account,” he added.

Mr Ramoowalia said all the self-employed people, businessmen, traders, kisans, labourers, government, and non-government employees and students were feeling distressed and frustrated. The people do not know whom to trust after being at the receiving end of misgovernance for the past 50 years, he said.

Banking on father’s ‘heroic deed’
Chander Parkash
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 8
For Mr Sarbjit Singh, son of Beant Singh, one of the assassins of Indira Gandhi, the Bathinda parliamentary constituency is not new as he has toured its length and breadth because his mother, Bimal Khalsa, and grandfather Sucha Singh Maloa contested elections from this area.

Nominated from the Bathinda (reserve) seat by the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) Mr Sarbjit Singh, son of Bimal Khalsa, who unsuccessfully contested the Pakka Kalan Assembly seat in this district once and then remained an MP from Ropar, has been banking upon the “heroic deed” done by his father to seek votes.

Mr Sarbjit Singh, a graduate, has so far covered about 475 villages and several towns. He has also been promising overall development of Bathinda and Mansa districts. “I will also work for the uplift of farmers, labourers and other sections of society. The problems of unemployment and illiteracy would be tackled. Agro-based industrial units would be set up in the area for improving the economy of farmers,” he pointed out.

He alleged former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who had been running his party as a private company along with his son, Mr Sukhbir Badal, had failed to address the issues pertaining to the SYL canal, transfer of Chandigarh and left-out Punjabi-speaking areas to Punjab. Mr Sarbjit Singh’s father, late Beant Singh, was awarded the title of “Quami Shaheed” by Akal Takht.

Shukla accepts challenge of ‘difficult’ Raipur
Prashant Sood
Tribune News Service

Raipur, April 8
Eleven days before the end of campaigning in this Lok Sabha constituency with over 12 lakh voters, Congress candidate S.C. Shukla shows no signs of hurry. His meetings are few, speeches lengthy and answers long. Three-time Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh, Mr Shukla is hopeful that goodwill for him and his family will see him through in the “difficult” electoral contest with the BJP’s Ramesh Bais.

Mr Shukla may not be agile at 78, but he is articulate and poised. He takes pains to refute allegations of encroachments being levelled against him by local BJP leaders. He challenges the BJP to say if he had ever opposed the creation of Chhattisgarh. Mr Shukla dismisses allegations about his not being concerned about the welfare of Dalits and backward classes who comprise nearly half the electorate in Raipur.

Having won the last Lok Sabha poll from Mahasamund, Mr Shukla preferred to shift to Raipur in this election apparently because of the dismal showing by the Congress in last year’s Assembly elections in the eight seats falling in the Mahasamund parliamentary constituency. The Congress won only one of these eight seats with Mr Shukla’s son Amitesh losing from the family’s traditional seat of Rajim. Mr Shukla has won seven times from Rajim.

The Congress has four of the eight Assembly seats falling in Raipur which Mr Shukla is contesting for the first time. The Congress leader admits he has a difficult challenge ahead in the seat won three times in a row by Mr Bais who is Minister of State for Environment and Forests. “If senior leaders shy away from contesting a difficult seat, it sends a wrong message,” Mr Shukla tells party workers while inaugurating a campaign office in the city’s Sadar Bazar. He talks of his vision of a neat and sprawling Raipur which has been spoiled by successive regimes in Bhopal.

Mr Shukla has so far only addressed workers meetings in different parts of the constituency, apparently in the belief that people in Raipur just need to be reminded of the work he had done for them as Chief Minister. The local Congress leaders do not seem to have planned their campaign strategy with the party’s state unit not yet sure of who among its top campaigners will be in Chhattisgarh.

The BJP, on the other hand, seems to be working to a strategy. Mr Bais is focusing on the rural areas which is the party’s soft underbelly. With Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani scheduled to touch Raipur during his Bharat uday rath yatra, the party cadres are confident of gaining an edge in campaigning.

Mr Bais tells people of the works he had done for Chhattisgarh and Raipur during his stints in different ministries of the Vajpayee government. Having served as a Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting from September 2000 and later as Minister of State for Mines, Mr Bais has drawn up a list of the projects sanctioned for Chhattisgarh. He does not forget to mention that every vote for him will also be a vote to make Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee the Prime Minister.

Focus on Telgi scam in Maharashtra
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 8
The Shiv Sena-BJP combine and the Congress-NCP led alliance are accusing each other of having links with forger Abdul Karim Telgi, accused of masterminding the fake stamp paper racket.

One day after BJP leader Nitin Gadkari accused senior ministers in the Maharashtra Government of obtaining funds from Telgi for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and the NCP are preparing to launch a similar salvo against leaders of the saffron parties.

According to sources, photographs featuring Abdul Karim Telgi with former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane of the Shiv Sena and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde of the BJP would be used extensively in the election campaign.

The NCP, which is at the receiving end owing to Telgi scam, is also planning to exploit Mr Munde’s links with journalist-turned legislator Anil Gote, who has been arrested in the fake stamp paper racket.

Sources say the Maharashtra Government is also digging old files to find incriminating information against Shiv Sena-BJP leaders.

Maharashtra’s former Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who has had to quit following his alleged links with Telgi, has been addressing rallies against Munde and Rane. Bhujbal, who is concentrating on his Mali community, is demanding that the CBI should probe the two leaders’ links with Telgi.

On Tuesday, Mr Gadkari alleged that Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil (NCP) had obtained funds from Telgi and his accomplice Antim Totla to fight the Lok Sabha elections. “We have strong reasons to believe that a large part of the tainted money has been diverted to party funds. We demand a CBI probe into it,” BJP leader Nitin Gadkari said. He further alleged that senior ministers in the Maharashtra Government could be “sleeping partners” in Totla’s alleged petrol adulteration racket.

Reacting to Gadkari’s charges, the Congress-NCP has challenged him to come out with more information.

The BJP has already accused the Congress-NCP of taking money from Telgi and Totla to buy the loyalties of rebel legislators and Independents who threatened to switch over to the saffron parties two years ago. The attempt to topple the Democratic Front Government in Maharashtra failed as the Congress-NCP shifted their legislators to a hotel owned by actor Sanjay Khan in Karnataka.

Roshan Baig, a Karnataka minister, is under a cloud after his brother Rehan, was found to be linked with Telgi and Totla. 

Thakurs hold key in parts of UP 
Our Correspondent

LUCKNOW: The T-factor or the Thakurs hold the key to the politics in the hinterland of Uttar Pradesh. Though numerically small, only 7.6 per cent of total population, they wield enormous muscle and money power to tilt the electoral balance. Cocking a snook at the zamindari system, the Thakurs still own over 50 per cent of farmland. Known as Rajputs during and before the Mughal period, they maintained their separate identity through the princely states.

Realising the importance of Thakurs in UP politics, the Samajwadi Party played the T-card with élan focusing on Raghuraj Pratap Singh, a Thakur leader who was jailed by former Chief Minister Mayawati under POTA. A ‘kshtriya rath’ would be taken around, blaring songs of Rajput glory and how he was jailed by a ‘Dalit ki beti’ only because the Thakur refused to tow the Mayawati line.

Thakurs involving themselves in UP politics is not new. They were the rajas, zamindars, taluqdars who enjoyed the princely purse during the British rule. They even formed the Taluqdars Party to keep going during pre-independence era. After 1947, Brahmins dominated UP politics and Thakurs remained with them till the early 1980s.

But things changed when the Congress’ Veer Bahadur Singh came to power in the early ‘80s, the Thakurs’ first taste of power. And when V P Singh succeeded him, many royals joined politics.

The Congress honeymoon was short-lived. Mandal and mandir issues saw them teaming up with Brahmins in the late 80s and early 90s. The decline of the Nehru-Gandhi clan, emergence of BJP and regional parties impacted Thakur politics.

Many princely states snapped their ties with the Congress either to join the BJP or the Samajwadi Party.

Barring ‘Begum’ of Rampur Noor Bano and Ratna Singh of Kalakankar house, ‘Raja of Manda’ V P Singh, ‘Prince’ of Amethi Sanjay Singh (now back with Congress), ‘Raja’ of Gonda Anand Singh, ‘Prince’ of Kunda Raghuraj Pratap Singh aligned with either saffron brigade or other parties.

The BSP too tried to woo them by giving them 50 ticket in the 1996 Assembly polls. The Thakurs won many seats but they could not align with Dalits and precipitated three major BSP splits since 1995.

Mulayam Singh Yadav too tried to woo Thakurs. He brought in Amar Singh in 1997 as a Thakur face. Singh made inroads into BJP’s Thakur vote bank. Now Thakurs are the biggest caste group in Mulayam’s Cabinet.

The BJP also propped up Rajnath Singh during the mid-90s to retain these votes, but its debacle and his high-handedness saw a split in the Thakur-Brahmin vote.

A study of the Thakurs’ voting pattern over the past two elections shows their first choice was the BJP followed by the SP and the Congress.

While the BJP bagged about 64.3 per cent of Thakur votes, the SP got 12.1 per cent and the Congress 9.6 per cent in the 2002 Assembly poll. This time, the Thakurs are annoyed with the BJP over Raja Bhaiyya’s arrest under POTA.

Are film stars kingmakers in TN?
Arup Chanda
Tribune News Service

Chennai, April 8
Films and politics go hand in hand in Tamil Nadu and it had been so for ages. Since 1967, Tamil Nadu has had four chief ministers who belonged to the Tamil film industry. While the legendary former chief minister, M.G. Ramachandran, popular as MGR, was a Tamil megastar, and the present Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo, J. Jayalalithaa, his leading heroine, the DMK president and former Chief Minister, Muthuvelar Karunanidhi, was a renowned Tamil film scriptwriter.

This is a state where the poor even sell their blood to buy movie tickets on the black market to watch their favourite stars, whom they later vote to power.

This time too, the DMK was banking on the support of Rajnikanth, the superstar of the Tamil film industry, till the attack on his fans by the PMK, a constituent of the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA).

Rajnikanth, a former bus conductor in Bangalore and Kannadiga by birth, made it big in the Tamil film industry during the mid-70s.

He soon earned the wrath of MGR for having an alleged affair with MGR’s leading heroine of those days, Latha, now a Tamil Nadu BJP leader.

Later, with J. Jayalalithaa, he had a minor ego hassle. Both stay in Chennai’s posh Poes Garden and when one day the police stopped Rajnikanth’s car, saying that the lady Chief Minister’s motorcade would have to pass first, the film star promptly got out and walked down to the main road.

What followed was a near-riot by Rajnikanth’s fans and Jayalalithaa could not pass by. When Jayalalitha asked him to shift his residence, Rajnikanth replied, “Why don’t you do so?”

All this came as a blessing in disguise for M. Karunanidhi as Rajnikanth automatically tilted towards him and the duo became inseparable.

While the elderly politician showered his blessings on the movie star when his films were released, Rajnikanth extended support politically to the DMK by asking his fans to vote for the party during elections.

During the 1996 state Assembly elections, the superstar campaigned and asked his fans to vote against the AIADMK.

Jayalalithaa lost the elections and the DMK was swept to power. During the last state Assembly elections in 2001, however, Rajnikanth maintained a mysterious silence and the DMK lost the elections.

This time the attack on Rajnikanth’s fans by the PMK workers has upset the DMK’s electoral plans.

While Rajnikanth has remained silent, his elder brother and president of his fans’ association, Satynarayana, has come out against the PMK asking the fans to ensure the defeat of its nominees.

He even went a step ahead. Instead of asking the fans to vote in favour of DMK candidates in other constituencies as Karunanidhi and Rajnikanth share a common bonding, Satyanarayana told the fans to vote according to their conscience.

This indirectly meant spelling out support in favour of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and BJP combine, which sent shivers down the DMK spine.

Though Jayalalithaa and Rajnikanth are old foes, it is the lady who is now having the last laugh.

The Madurai police registered a case of attempt to murder against Ramadoss and some of his party workers.

Neither did Jayalalithaa’s government issue a formal statement on the incident nor did she mention it during her poll campaign.

She is only happy to spot many Rajni fans and their flags in many of her meetings.

Whether Rajni’s magic will work this time is a million dollar question. It will also determine his future particularly in Tamil Nadu politics.

His film career is on the verge of an end and the beginning of his political career might be a steep climb if the PMK wins three of the six seats in the Lok Sabha poll. It is like a double-edged sword.

If the PMK loses all seats because of Rajnikanth, it is a gain for his foe in Jayalalithaa. And if the PMK nominees win, it will prove that his diktats no more hold sway over his four million fans. Considered a king maker Rajnikanth will end up as a lost Tamil film star and a non-starter in politics.

Dynasty candidates are favourites
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

Dausa, April 8
Most political parties might have a policy of not promoting dynastic rule overtly, but none of them have been able to shed the liking for the candidates from families which have been representing a particular parliamentary constituency for years.

Whether it is the Congress, the BJP or any other party, dynasty candidates have an edge over the other claimants. This is because most political parties feel that the work done by senior family members would help the younger member emerge victorious.

Although the roots of dynasty candidates being fielded in Rajasthan are not so strong as may be the case in some other states, for the present round of elections, both the BJP and Congress have fielded the second generation of Members of Parliament in at least half the total number of 25 parliamentary constituencies.

There have been instances where after the death of a particular leader, the parties fielded candidates from his dynasty to not only garner sympathy votes but also ensure that his vote bank did not shift to other candidates.

The first such possible instance was that of Ms Indubala Sukhadia, wife of former Chief Minister Mohanlal Sukhadia, being given ticket after the leader’s death. Later, the sons of another Chief Minister Haridev Joshi, towering Jat leader Nathuram Mirdha, Ram Niwas Mirdha, Poonamchand Bishnoi and Shishram Ola were also given tickets.

This time both the BJP and Congress have fielded at least six each dynasty candidates. Among them are former Congress Gujjar leader Rajesh Pilot, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Though the decision to field Sachin Pilot and Manvendra Singh is understandable, the fielding of Dushyant Singh from Jhalawar has come as a surprise to most people in Rajasthan. Dushyant Singh seems to have taken an easy route of riding piggyback on his mother’s popularity to gain entry into the political arena.

On the other hand, Manvendra Singh is not new to the political arena. He was the BJP candidate from Barmer in the last round of elections and had lost to the Congress candidate.

However, he did not give up and since then, besides serving the country through his stints in the Territorial Army, he has been working for the uplift of the people of Barmer and is a strong candidate this time.

Dausa became the territory of Ms Rama Pilot after the death of Rajesh Pilot and this time, the Congress with an attempt to reflect its youthful face has decided to field his son Sachin Pilot.

But these are not the only examples. In an apparent bid to assuage the feelings of former BJP president Bangaru Laxman, his wife Sushila Laxman has been fielded from Jalore despite her being an outsider.

Similarly, from Bhilwara, Kailash Vyas, son of two-time MP Ramesh Chandra Vyas has been fielded by the Congress and from Chittorgarh, the party has fielded Vishwavijay Singh, son of former MP from the constituency, Ms Nirmala Shekhawat.

Both the parties apparently feel that giving ticket to dynasty candidates would ensure victory in the constituency. But it would be interesting to see whether the voters accept the same theory or not. After all, India is a democracy.

Wodiyar richest nominee

Mysore, April 8
With a declared property worth more than Rs 1,521 crore, sitting MP and scion of the Mysore royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodiyar is perhaps the richest candidate in the country contesting the Lok Sabha elections.

Mr Wodiyar, seeking his fifth term in the Lok Sabha from Mysore, filed his papers before Deputy Commissioner Kumar Nayak today along with a long list of immovable and movable properties, bank balances and other assets.

He declared cash worth Rs 1 lakh each in the names of both himself and his wife, bonds, debentures and shares of companies worth Rs 24.89 lakh, NSS and postal savings estimated at Rs 8 lakh, jewellery worth Rs 14.65 lakh, all jointly held with his wife, a Maruti Zen worth Rs 1.50 lakh in his name and other assets such as values of claims and interests totalling Rs 97.45 lakh.

He also mentioned immovable assets such as agricultural land worth Rs 12 crore in and around Mysore city, Mysore and Bangalore palaces worth Rs 1,500 crore (which incidentally is challenged before the Karnataka High Court), Lokarajan Mahal and stables in Mysore city in about 30 acres worth Rs 3 crore, Rajendra Vilas Palace worth Rs 6 crore, atop Chamundi Hills, Mysore Fern Hill Palace at Udhagamandalam, Gun House and other properties. — UNI

Cong misused Art 356: Rana
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 8
Mr Rajinder Rana, BJP media in charge for the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, said in a statement here today that whenever the Congress was in power at the Centre, it misused Article 356 to dismiss non-Congress Governments. It was common knowledge that Mrs Indira Gandhi after coming to power in the seventies had dismissed several non-Congress Governments.

Mr Rana claimed that Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee would again become Prime Minister, solely on the excellent performance of the NDA Government.

Taking a dig at Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Rana said that the Chief Minister was not mentally and physically fit to rule the hill state. The Chief Minister, he alleged, did not know correctly the names of even Param Vir Chakra winners from the state — whether it was Capt Vikram Batra or Saurav Kalia.

Apprehending their defeat in the Lok Sabha poll, the Congress nominees were threatening to withdraw from the contest. Mr Rana took the name Mr Ram Lal Thakur, Congress nominee from Hamirpur, who had reportedly threatened to pull out of the contest.

Time not to leave, says PM

New Delhi, April 8
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said today time had not come for him to give up the post. “Abhi mere chhorhne ka waqt nahin hai (It is not the time for me to leave)”, he told a press conference here.

The Prime Minister was asked about his comments in Lucknow that without Mr L. K. Advani’s nod, he would not have occupied the top slot and his earlier remarks that under Mr Advani’s leadership the party wants to move forward and that the party wants the leadership to be handed over to the Deputy Prime Minister.

He was also asked whether time had also come for the party leadership to be handed over to Mr Advani and if there was apprehension that the NDA would not accept Mr Advani’s leadership.

Mr Vajpayee parried questions on his age and the need for the leadership being handed over to the younger generation.

“We will discuss (this) issue later,” was all that the 79-year-old Vajpayee had to say when he was reminded of his statement made decades ago where he was critical of the then ageing Prime Minister Charan Singh and had called for the leadership to be handed over to the younger generation. — PTI