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Rahul brought Congress back into fight BJP, SP determined to make Congress earn its victory Take action against Haryana Governor, Cong tells Kalam Godara out, Raghavanand is BJP man in Hisar |
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Fissures
in Parivar dismay Vajpayee Tytler, Irani, Sibal file nominations SC moved for ban on opinion and exit polls Poll boycott call worries EC EC notice to Cabinet Secy on media briefing 45.77 pc polling booths sensitive or hyper sensitive: EC Peaceful repoll in 49 booths Shekhawat leaves for SA tomorrow
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Rahul brought Congress back into fight Gopiganj: When we left for Allahabad yesterday the Congress was in sleep mode in Varanasi and on the entire 120 km stretch leading to the place of birth of the first Prime Minister of India. Was it the good fairy or Mr Rahul Gandhi’s decision to make a whistle-stop tour of some parliamentary constituencies that made the region experience the makings of a Congress wave. We got caught in the small crowd that had begun building up since early morning in Gopiganj, part of the Mirzapur parliamentary constituency from where the grandson of Kamlapati Tripathi is contesting on the Congress ticket. The entire town was decked up with posters and buntings and flags bearing the tell-tale sign of “panja”. Yesterday the Congress was sleeping, today it was out to shake the rivals out of their assumption that it was not in the race. Mingling with the crowd waiting for the son of the number one political family rise on the horizon of Gopiganj provided us an insight what the ordinary folks thought about politicians and politics. With one eye on the Bhadohi road, from where the latest enterant into electoral politics from the Nehru-Gandhi family was to drive past the waiting crowd, we got talking with a cross-section of people. A research scholar in philosophy from Allahbad University, Mr Raj Kumar Gupta, was disillusioned with the entire lot of
politicians. He favoured a spell of anarchy for cleaning up the system completely before handing over the reins of governance to a fresh and honest lot of
politicians. There were others whose views were less radical. Will the roadshow revive the Congress? Ram Prasad felt it would. “To be honest, I have never voted for the Congress, but I feel sick with the caste politics of Ms Mayawati and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and the communal agenda of the BJP. The Congress at least, does not use casteist or communal metaphors. And that is better than the other options.” Mr Rahul Gandhi seemed to have made at least one convert, although he was late in reaching Gopiganj by at least two hours. He would be travelling in an air-conditioned car while the crowd was being made to sweat waiting for his darshan. “Not really”, said a voice from the crowd. Ramesh was running a juice stall at the T-junction from where Mr Rahul Gandhi was to descend upon Gopiganj for a random hand-shake with some and deliver spontaneous one-liners in response to questions from people. Obviously he had not been briefed to mouth the Congress line. It felt like
eternity waiting for him to make an appearance. The policemen were getting restless. They had already ordered the shopkeepers to pull down shutters. As if to create some more work for themselves, they would occasionally tap some gently with lathi and push the crowd an inch or two. Someone in the crowd shouted “Rahul Gandhi aa gaye”. There was a sudden burst of action all around before the crow burst into laughter. “Saala bewaqoof bana gaya”. The road from Bhadohi to Gopiganj was overflowing with people when the rivals had a brainwave to take advantage of it. A BJP van waded its way out of a cover of Congress buntings and posters to tell the crowd “kal mashhoor televison abhineta Mukesh Khanna yahana jan sabha sambodhit kariengay”. Someone shouted, “Shaktiman”. Today seemed to be an auspicious day for marriages. A flower bedecked car was the next to pass by the crowd waiting for Mr Rahul Gandhi. Someone in the crowd yelled out a loud blessing for the happy and long life of the newly weds. This was a bonus neither Pramod nor Sunita, the newly-wed couple, was prepared for. They ought to treasure it as the best wedding gift from a section of people of India. At long last the wait was over. Mr Rahul Gandhi was a picture of charm and politeness and he stretched out his hand to let the people feel that he was real and approachable. The show lasted barely five minutes. And the wait? Nearly five hours. |
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Bhadohi, April 23 |
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BJP, SP determined to make Congress earn its victory Rae Barelli, April 23 Congress President Sonia Gandhi spent two days here, crisscrossing the vast tracts of Rae Barelli’s hinterland, addressing rallies and seeking not just a mandate but a massive mandate from the electorate here which had once supported her father-in-law and mother-in-law. Her daughter, Ms Priyanka Vadra, who also doubles as her chief election manager, also joined her mother yesterday and will not move from here till the poll is over. Her son, Mr Rahul Gandhi, who has reclaimed his father’s legacy and is contesting from neighbouring Amethi for the first time, camped here for two days before moving on to other constituencies. The competition, however, is not lagging behind. Although this belt is well-known as the Gandhi family’s personal “fiefdom”, the BJP and the Samajwadi Party are making an attempt to challenge the stranglehold. High-profile BJP General Secretary and the party’s chief strategist Pramod Mahajan dropped in for a workers’ meeting here to lend moral support to the its candidate, Mr Girish Narain Pande. Health Minister Sushma Swaraj was also in this constituency today to drum up support. Their focus is on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s leadership qualities and the NDA government’s achievements while casting doubts on Ms Sonia Gandhi’s capabilities to lead the country, given her foreign origin and “poor oratory skills.” Similarly, the Samajwadi Party is not willing to concede easy victory to the Congress. Mr Ashok Singh, the SP candidate pitted against Ms Gandhi, enjoys a fair amount of local support. His posters and party flags are put up liberally all over the constituency, suggesting that the battle in this high-profile constituency is a close. The SP candidate is getting all the help he needs from his brother, Mr Akhilesh Singh, an MLA from the Sadar constituency and known as the local “terror”, with several criminal cases pending against him. People here openly acknowledge that he has been intimidating voters and that traders are putting up his party buntings out of fear. Realising his potential for creating trouble, Ms Priyanka Vadra has already taken pre-emptive measures by approaching the Election Commission in this regard. The campaigning, however, is continuing full steam ahead. If Mr Rahul Gandhi is invoking his father’s memory to seek support from the people of Amethi, Ms Gandhi is reminding the voters of Rae Barelli about their long-time association with the family. “You had shown a lot of affection to them and it is heartening to see the same affection for me,” she tells the crowds who flock to her public meetings. In fact, a massive hoarding in Rae Barelli city says it all. “Sonia nahin, aandhi hai. Gareebo ki Indira Gandhi hai,” it reads. Although the brunt of her attack is against the BJP, the Congress President has also been taking indirect swipes at SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. She does not name him but makes a special mention of the fact that the Congress had made all efforts to forge an alliance with secular parties but some of them had refused to join, adding that these parties appeared to have a hidden understanding with certain parties. “Some parties call themselves secular but things are not as clear as they appear to be. Reports suggest that there is a hidden understanding between certain parties, but we have full trust in the judgement of the voters,” she told presspersons during her two-day visit to Rae Barelli. Despite the BJP’s last-ditch effort and the SP’s spirited fight, the battle for Rae Barelli appears pretty one-sided. “Ashok Singh might be putting up a tough fight but it is Congress all the way here,” says Shivbalak, a tea-stall owner Rae Barelli, while Ghanshyam Das of Chaura village echoes the same sentiment. “When you have a national leader like Sonia Gandhi contesting from here, it is difficult for a local to compete,” he says. |
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Take action against Haryana Governor, Cong tells Kalam New Delhi, April 23 “Haryana Governor has made a political appeal to support Prime Minister.... We condemn this in the strongest manner. We appeal to President Kalam to take immediate action and if needed, the Governor should be recalled”, party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told newspersons here. He alleged the Haryana Governor had “violated” his constitutional position by making a political appeal to voters to back the Prime Minister and the BJP. Mr Singhvi said the BJP was “so rattled” that now the party was “misusing” the constitutional offices of Governor for seeking votes and wanted to know why Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was silent. “Vajpayee, through his silence, was giving support to it. We strongly condemn this”, he said. He also accused Rajasthan Governor Madan Lal Khurana of “misusing” his office by indulging in political activities. |
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Desperate BJP wooing Dalits New Delhi, April 23 The party have lined up 25 of its chosen leaders belonging to these sections for an intensive campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh ahead of the remaining three crucial phases of elections. Among these leaders are Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, Union Ministers Sanga Priya Gautam, Sanjay Paswan, Kashiram Rana and Kariya Munda. The decision of the party is in line with the two-pronged strategy — to woo the Muslims towards the BJP or at least blunt their hostility and target the Dalits and Backwards in a big way so as to prevent them from voting enmasse regional parties. It feels that it could project itself well among Dalits and Backwards by asserting that in the 13th Lok Sabha it was BJP with had the largest number of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe MPs. |
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Godara out, Raghavanand is BJP man in Hisar New Delhi, April 23 BJP General Secretary and spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas
Naqvi, who announced the party’s decision here, was himself not aware of the background of Swami
Raghavanand. “He is a sanyasi and has been a BJP worker for a long time now,” Mr Naqvi said. However, according to party sources, Mr Godara had to back out as his name was “missing” from the electoral roll, though he possessed a voter identity card. |
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Fissures in Parivar dismay Vajpayee
New Delhi, April 23 “It appears that confidence in ourselves is declining, and this (confidence) is our biggest strength. The organisations connected with our ideology do injustice to us when they make accusations against us,” he said in an interview to RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya, without naming any organisation. “I cannot say more on this. Differences may be there and these can be sharp also. But despite these differences, we should not doubt each other’s intentions. All of us bound by the Sangh ideology are moving forward. We are moving forward keeping in mind the development of the country and there is no room for making allegations against each other,” he said. He was replying to a question whether he was hurt by certain comments and how he felt about them.
— PTI |
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Tytler, Irani, Sibal file nominations
New Delhi, April 23 Congress candidate Tytler filed his papers from the Delhi Sadar constituency and was one of the 12 candidates to file nominations for the seat today. Smriti and Congress’ Sibal, who are locked in a straight fight, filed their papers from Chandni Chowk. Fifteen other candidates also filed their nominations for the seat. From Outer Delhi, 17 candidates filed their papers today while eight Independents each filed their papers from the New Delhi and South Delhi constituencies. Fifteen Independents filed their papers from the East Delhi constituency while two filed from the Karol Bagh (SC) seat. With today’s nominations, the total number of candidates to file their papers in Delhi has gone up to 157. —
PTI |
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SC moved for ban on opinion and exit polls New Delhi, April 23 A Bench of Mr Justice R.C. Lahoti and Mr Justice Ashok Bhan fixed hearing of the PIL on April 26 when the polling for the third phase of election would be held. Various TV channels are scheduled to telecast exit poll results on that day like they had done after the first phase of voting on April 20. The PIL comes close on the heels of the Congress, Left parties and some other political organisations opposing the publication and telecast of the opinion and exit poll results till the last day of voting. Advocate D.K Thakur, in his PIL said the political parties projected to be doing well in the opinion and exit polls, would use the results for their advantage. |
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Poll boycott call worries EC Kolkata, April 23 Several political leaders and candidates for the Lok Sabha elections have received threat letters,prompting them to seek special police protection for their lives, said the Director-General of Police, Shyamal Dutta. Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, CPI(M) leaders, Anil Biswas and Biman Basu, among others, who had received threat letters from the PWG and MCC, have been already provided with additional security protection. Three Union ministers — Mamata Banerjee, Tapan Sikhdar and Satyabrata Mukherjee — have been already under the Centre’s SPG protection. Congress(l) leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Ghani Khan Chaudhury, being former Central ministers, are getting special security protection from the state government. The DGP admits, several other candidates of various political parties in the districts have asked for personal armed guards for protection, and wherever possible, they have been provided with. He said adequate steps had been taken in all vulnerable areas, particularly in places where the PWG, MCC and other extremists are active. The Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishna Murthi, is arriving in the city on April 28 to hold talks with the state administration and the police to finally examine the ‘bandobast” for holding a peaceful, free and fair elections to be held in the state on May 10. An official team of the Election Commission arrived today from Delhi which will visit sensitive areas in the districts, along with senior police officials, to make an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and make necessary arrangements to ensure free and fair elections. The state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Mr B. Bandopadhyya, yesterday met several District Magistrates and the SPs of south Bengal districts and discussed the law and order situation in the wake of the boycott call. The Home Department officials also attended the meeting. The CEO will meet the district officials and the police of north Bengal on Monday. According to reports reaching at the state government headquarters at the Writers Buildings, the PWG and MCC militants which are active in Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum and Midnapore, particularly in the adjoining Bihar and Orissa areas, have been threatening the people to boycott the elections. They have been distributing leaflets and papers in residential areas and hanging posters and placards, calling people to boycott the elections. |
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EC notice to Cabinet Secy on media briefing New Delhi, April 23 EC sources said the poll panel had sought an immediate reply from the Cabinet Secretary as to why the Finance Ministry officials held a press briefing on revenue collection, which indicated that the tax collection had gone up by 18 per cent to Rs 2,52,162 crore in 2003-04. The ministry was being asked to provide an “explanation” for its April 20 media briefing held in “total violation” of the Model Code of Conduct, official sources said. Though the letter was not officially described as a show-cause notice, the contents therein virtually amount to it as the Centre had been asked to explain its move. |
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45.77 pc polling booths sensitive or hyper sensitive: EC New Delhi, April 23 This in effect means that more than 75,000 (45.77 per cent) polling booths/stations fall in either category, an official release said here today. While 28,119 booths were declared as hyper sensitive, 47,499 were stated to be sensitive. The commission wanted to ensure that additional security forces were deployed in all such booths for conduct of “free and fair elections.” According to an official spokesperson of the Commission, of the 42,203 booths to be set up in Uttar Pradesh, 8,731 booths were identified as hyper sensitive and 8,649 as sensitive. In Bihar, of the 20,115 polling booths set up for this phase, 8,463 were declared as hyper sensitive and 6,166 booths as sensitive. In Orissa, of the 12,509 booths, as many as 12,197 were declared as sensitive while no booths was identified as hyper sensitive. Polling in this phase will cover 139 Parliamentary constituencies, in which Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi, RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, who is pitted against film star Govinda and National Conference President Omar Abdullah’s fate will decided. |
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Peaceful repoll in 49 booths Ranchi, April 23 The state election office here said no untoward incident was reported from any of the centres. The repolling was necessitated following allegations of irregularities and snatching of electronic voting machines by extremsists during the April 20 Lok Sabha poll. — UNI |
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SC moved for vacating stay on HC proceedings New Delhi, April 23 The application moved by advocate Harish Rau Dhanda, who had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the High Court for quashing of the auction, contended that his plea had nothing to do with the petitions filed by other parties in the case because it was inspired by public interest. The Supreme Court had on April 19 stayed proceedings in the High Court in all liquor vend related cases, following a petition by the Punjab Government seeking the transfer of these cases to the Apex Court. Dhanda has contended that the PIL could not be clubbed with the petitions by the other litigating parties as it had raised a pertinent question of violation of the rules in conducting the auction and loss of revenue to the state by allocating the vends in lesser price. “There will be an irreparable loss to the state exchequer, which is more than Rs 200 crore”, he claimed. Even if the petitions of other parties were dismissed or allowed by the court, that would be of no consequence to the PIL, he said. |
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Shekhawat leaves for SA tomorrow New Delhi, April 23 It was on this day 10 years ago that the Apartheid regime was consigned to the dustbin of history and a new era of equality, democracy and freedom was inaugurated there. Mr Thabo M. Mbeki, who was reelected as President recently, will formally assume the office on April 27. Mr Shekhawat is scheduled to leave here on April 25, reach Johannesburg the next morning and leave for home on May 1. He will be accompanied by a team of senior officers from his Secretariat and the Ministry of External Affairs. Mr Shekhawat will proceed to Durban on April 28, where he will inaugurate the centenary celebrations of the Phoenix Settlement. |
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