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Vajpayee unfazed by exit poll results
Vivek Oberoi campaigns for Vajpayee Minorities disillusioned with Mulayam |
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| Display of Pervez’s portrait on committee’s van condemned New Delhi, April 25 The Congress today came down heavily on a committee of Muslims, which is supported by the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for displaying Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s portrait on its van. BJP seeks probe into video CDs episode Naqvi describes Cong alliance as ‘benami’ Withdraw nominees from MP, Cong urges SP
Boycott candidates employing child labour, says NGO SC notice to Centre, Punjab on MD’s plea Four held for selling fake stamp papers
Former DGP of Manipur gunned down Big B to render PM’s poems Poverty greatest hurdle: Kalam HC to decide
validity of NALCO probe Ship stranded due to labour unrest
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Vajpayee unfazed by exit poll results
New Delhi, April 25 Refusing to attach undue importance to the exit polls, most of which had shown the NDA returning to power with a reduced majority and the Opposition improving its tally, he said while these polls were an “indicator”, sometimes they go topsy-turvy. Asked if he was worried by the latest election trends which appear to have buoyed the Congress, Mr Vajpayee responded with a laughter before saying “Why is the Congress so much happy that now we have to be worried?” Notwithstanding a punishing schedule during which he has logged over 50,000 air miles on the campaign trail, a relaxed Prime Minister answered a variety of questions on the election scenario, including the issue of succession, response of Muslims and criticism by the VHP, during an interview with PTI Editors at his residence here. Mr Vajpayee said the elections were going well “as per our expectations” and “we are confident that we will get a majority.” Asked if the BJP was worried in the context of the exit polls predictions, he shot back “there is no cause for worry.” To a question if the NDA would get more seats than what was predicted by the exit polls, he said it depended on areas. “The result of the exit polls so far are from areas where we had good expectations. Now we are in areas where there will be keen contest.” Q. Will you get a majority like in 1999? A. We are hoping. The Prime Minister said earlier polls predicted that the situation was bad in Karnataka for the BJP, but now they say “we will do well” Asked about the Congress party’s enthusiasm, he said the Congress has changed it views. “What is the basis for its enthusiasm,” he said adding that earlier they trashed the opinion polls which did not suit them. When reminded that the BJP had claimed that it would get 300 seats on its own, Mr Vajpayee said “That is our target. If we get it, it will be good.” Pressed further on whether the party would get 300 on its own, he replied “I don’t say so.” When asked whether the BJP would adopt any new strategy in the remaining two phases of the elections like its planned focus to woo backward classes and Muslims, Mr Vajpayee said “our strategy will be to get people out of homes to vote. “In many places the voting had been low. We want to mobilise people.” He cited the case of Gujarat where, he said the BJP had strength and would get more seats, but was surprised why there was low polling. “It is not good.” “Our supporters have taken it for granted that there is no contest. It should not be there.” Q: Do you think it is a no-contest and you are way ahead? A: I don’t accept that. This differs from state to state. To a question about Muslims’ response to the BJP in this elections, he said “the community is still thinking. It has not decided. But the situation is also not that Muslims are against us and will not shake hands with us. This attitude is changing.” On the BJP’s prospects in Uttar Pradesh, he said though the picture was not clear the party’s seats would go up. In Bihar also he expected a similar performance. Asked whether his recent statement that the Samajwadi Party had similar thinking with the BJP indicated the two could come together in the post-poll scenario, Mr Vajpayee said “they (SP) would start howling. There are many possibilities. It is there now. It is difficult to detail them.” He said when he talked about similarity in thinking between the two parties it was in respect of issues like protection of democracy, fight against the emergency and the foreign origin issue. To a question about his reported statement that he was worried about running a coalition, the Prime Minister said what he had meant was a compact coalition which should not be unwieldy with single member parties. “The number of parties in the coalition should be less.” About personal attack against him in the campaign, he said the Congress raked up his alleged betrayal in the 1942 movement “knowing fully well that the allegation is baseless.” Before every election, he said the Congress raised it. “Before last elections, 54 Congress MPs had issued a joint statement. In Parliament also they raised this issue.” On the controversy over his successor in the BJP, Mr Vajpayee denied a decision had been taken on this. “Definitely not. The question does not arise. I had said from the beginning that it is party’s job. In a democracy there is no question of succession. When the time comes the party will decide.” Asked if he had a personal opinion on who would succeed him, the Prime Minister said “I don’t want to get into it.” Asked who he was referring to when he remarked that he was hurt more by criticism “from within”, he said it was the VHP which made some comments against him Friday and even yesterday. — PTI
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Vivek Oberoi campaigns for Vajpayee Lucknow, April 25 Accompanied by father, Suresh Oberoi, who has joined the BJP, Vivek Oberoi toured parts of the Prime Minister’s constituency seeking votes for him. Earlier talking to newspersons at the BJP headquarters, Vivek recalled his association with Lucknow and said this time he had come here to seek support for Atalji whom he regarded as a great leader who was steering the nation on the path of all-round development and prosperity. A golden phase has also been initiated in Bollywood in the recent years and it has moved ahead like the country, he added. “I have come on my own and nobody has asked me to campaign for the Prime Minister who is a star in his own capacity and can attract great crowds,” he said in reply to a question adding that he would go about telling the people why he is supporting Vajpayee. Replying to questions, Suresh Oberoi said that he joined the BJP on his own initiative feeling that people should be made aware of the NDA government’s achievements.
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Minorities
disillusioned with Mulayam Lucknow, April 25 The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has become suspect in the eyes of the minorities, who are increasingly questioning his secular credentials, once considered absolutely impeccable. They believe the SP leader has a tacit understanding with the BJP, that he was able to form his government with the BJP support and that Mr Yadav could even return the favour by bailing out the NDA government in case it is short of numbers in this elections. The result is that the minority vote in Uttar Pradesh is in disarray today. Wherever the Congress candidates are in contention, as in the case of Faizabad, a section of the minorities are veering towards the grand old party. But wherever the Congress is not seen to be in the fight, the minorities believe they have to choose between the SP or the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), depending on who is considered a clear winner. But even in places like Mishrikh, where the SP and the BSP are locked in battle, one can hear stray voices like that of Rehmat Ali, who says he will vote for the Congress this time as it is the only party which does not play the caste card and carries everybody along. For instance, in Lucknow where Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s victory is a foregone conclusion, the Muslims are showing a preference for the Congress-supported candidate Ram Jethmalani. “Last time I voted for the SP but this time I will vote for the Congress. We believe Mulayam Singh Yadav is secretly helping the BJP. Why did he not have an alliance with the Congress which kept appealing to him till the last minute”, asks Alim Ahmed, a cloth seller in the Chowk area. The Congress, he believes, has paid the price for its past sins, having been out of power for over a decade. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s muted response to the recent saree stampede was the most glaring example of a SP-BJP secret understanding, says Mazar Hussain, a PCO owner in Lucknow’s old city and wonders why the SP had not joined hands with the Congress since it cannot form a government at the Centre on its own. The Muslims are also angry that the SP leader was actually helping the BJP by not forging an alliance with the Congress since this would only end up dividing the minority vote. Naseem Mohammad, a Kanpur-based trader, cites the examples of Kanpur and Rampur where, he believes, the bitter battle between the SP and the Congress would benefit the BJP. Given this mood, Mulayam Singh Yadav is very much on the defensive these days. His problems have been compounded by Vajpayee’s recent statement that there is an ideological similarity between the BJP and the SP which was followed by defence Minister George Fernandes’ s statement that he would like the SP to become a member of the NDA. The Congress has unleashed a campaign against Mulayam Singh Yadav, painting him as a betrayer of the secular cause, while Congress President Sonia Gandhi went out of her way to hit out at Mulayam Singh Yadav at her recent election meetings. It has prepared exclusive publicity materials to expose and embarrass the Chief Minister and is also being assisted by clerics, poets and Muslim intellectuals.
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Display of Pervez’s portrait on committee’s New Delhi, April 25 Party spokesman Anand Sharma demanded to know whether the BJP was seeking votes of minorities while doubting their patriotism. He asked whether the portraits of Mr Vajpayee and his deputy L.K. Advani would be displayed whenever elections were held in Pakistan. “We want to know whether the Prime Minister’s Himayat (support) Committee yatra is displaying Musharraf’s portrait to lure Muslims. It is insensitive and sheer opportunism and an insult to Indian Muslims as it questions their patriotism”, Mr Sharma told reporters. The spokesman also ridiculed Shahi Imam of Delhi Jama Masjid’s appeal to Muslims to support the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha poll. “Whatever Bukhari said was his viewpoint. No comment on that but what impact his appeal would make on the community would be known in the coming days”, Mr Sharma replied when asked to comment on Shahi Imam’s appeal to Muslims to give a chance to the BJP as secular parties had treated the Muslims as a vote bank. |
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BJP seeks probe into video CDs episode
New Delhi, April 25 “Now one after another Congress’ corruption is being exposed. We demand a high-level inquiry into the episode in Rajasthan during Congress rule showing its ministers and brother of former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accepting bribe,” party General Secretary and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters here. Launching a broadside on the Congress on the eve of the third phase of polling in 136 Lok Sabha constituencies, Mr Naqvi said “these tapes have shown how much corruption was prevalent in Rajasthan during the Congress rule”. Referring to Congress-led alliance as “benami”, the BJP leader charged the party with forming poll pacts only out of “political compulsion rather than any moral conviction”. “Partners in this ‘benami’ alliance led by disillusioned Congress would leave it after elections. The Congress is known for withdrawing support and bringing down coalition governments and the current attempt at forming a coalition alliance is not based on any moral conviction but on a political compulsion borne out of disillusionment,” Mr Naqvi claimed. Mr Naqvi said it was perhaps for the first time in the
history of coalition politics in the country that an alliance “without a name, policy and leader” has been formed. Mr Naqvi claimed Congress’ policies had created “distrust” among people about coalition politics. “But BJP-led NDA coalition has in five years successfully converted this distrust into confidence and proved that coalitions can provide both stability and good governance”. He said in contrast to previous experiences of coalition governments, the NDA has shown that it can not only provide stability but also put the nation on the path of progress. To a question on the possibility of a post-poll alliance with Samajwadi Party, Mr Naqvi ruled it out saying “SP and BSP are our political rivals and there is no question of having any alliance with either of them. Those parties with whom we have alliances and are members of the NDA, we will get a two-third majority and therefore there is no need of taking support of any new partners”. Apprehending that there could be violence in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh during the polls he said BJP had decided to have 500 video cameras in places where there is a possibility of trouble during polling.
— PTI
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Naqvi describes Cong alliance as ‘benami’ New Delhi, April 25 While talking to reporters, he also remarked that the Congress would be politically isolated after the elections as no party would have an alliance with it due to its previous record of withdrawing support and dismantling coalition governments. He claimed that the Congress did not have a common minimum programme or leadership for the alliance. In this context, he remarked that it was perhaps for the first time in the history of coalition politics in the country that an alliance “without a name, policy and leader” had been formed. His contention was that the majority of the parties which had joined the Congress-led alliance were against its leadership and policies. Mr Naqvi said the Congress’ attempts at forming an alliance were borne out of political opportunism and not moral conviction and ideological similarity. “The Congress is an expert in withdrawing support and dismantling coalition governments,” he commented. Mr Naqvi demanded a high-level probe into the video CDs allegedly showing ministers in the previous Congress government in Rajasthan accepting bribe. Mr Naqvi also expressed optimism of the BJP’s good showing at tomorrow’s second phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections. Of the 136 constituencies going to the polls tomorrow, the BJP is contesting 81 seats, leaving the remaining 55 for its allies. Out of 21 seats in Andhra Pradesh, BJP is contesting four seats and the allies have fielded candidates in 17 constituencies. Of the seven seats in Assam, the BJP has named candidates for six, leaving one for the partners. In Goa, the BJP is contesting both the constituencies while in Jammu and Kashmir it is contesting the sole seat going to the poll in the second phase. Of the 13 seats in Karnataka, 10 are being contested by the BJP, while in case of Maharashtra, which has 24 seats, nine of them have BJP candidates in the fray. Of the 10 seats in Orissa, two have BJP candidates. BJP candidates are in the fray in 31 of the 32 seats going to the polls in Uttar Pradesh, while the party is contesting all the eight seats in the fray in Jharkhand. |
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Withdraw nominees from MP, Cong urges SP New Delhi, April 25 Mr Arjun Singh issued a press statement here in which he said: “I appeal to Shri Mulayam Singh ji, who is considered to be a leader wedded to secularism, to kindly intervene and request the Samajwadi Party candidates put up in Madhya Pradesh for Parliament to withdraw from the contest.” He appealed to the party to reciprocate the support it extended to Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav’s party in Uttar Pradesh. He also made it clear that the Congress had not approached Ms Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, which had also put up 21 candidates in Madhya Pradesh. He told reporters that though the SP had won only seven seats in the last Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, the party had now put up 26 candidates out of 29 seats in the state. “It is obvious that there is no rational political calculation and Samajwadi Party cannot claim success in any parliamentary constituency”, he added. Mr Arjun Singh also contended that every SP candidate in Madhya Pradesh would only divide the secular votes which will directly benefit the BJP. |
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Boycott candidates employing child labour, says NGO New Delhi, April 25 Mr Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson, BBA, South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS), says: “Due to lack of political will, the successive governments have failed to abolish child and bonded labour from the country. Consequently, millions of small children working in at brick kilns, dhabas, homes, agriculture farms and in various other sectors have no future.” Appealing to the voters, he said, “the voters should boycott those candidates, who are employing children at their home, businesses and industrial units. Otherwise also, like in the European countries, the people should not buy goods from those employing child labour.” For millions of such unfortunate kids, India was still in the middle ages, and not shinning at all, he said. Mr Satyarthi lamented that due to poor conditions in rural Nepal, a nexus of brokers there and in India was bringing hundreds of children every month to India, promising their parents of substantial money and good life for children. But they were mostly sold in the rural and small towns here for few thousands of rupees. Referring to the report of the Human Watch, an action group of the USA, he said, “there are over 30,000 Nepalese girl child prostitutes in India, apart from lakhs of child labourers working in dhabas, urban homes and industrial sector. A majority of them are working as bonded labourers in brick kiln, glass and carpet industry.” After the furor at the plight of the animal circus industry, he said, “it is time to sit up and notice the inhumane and pathetic condition of children working there. The political parties should be forced to raise this issue in election.” Taking a dig on the ‘India Shinning’ campaign, Satyarthi said that in the psyche of these children India will always remain a place of darkness. “The political parties can fight over temple or other issues, but no one will talk about the plight of crores of children in this country, especially about Nepalese children.” He said though there were no authentic statistics on bonded child labour, but as per different estimates, there were over 60 million child labour, including about 10 million bonded labourers. Kailash Satyarthi is working for the elimination of bonded and child labour for the past over 20 years. He said, “We have so far released over 65,000 bonded child labourers. But only in about half the cases, the government has provided rehabilitation package of Rs 20,000 to each family. Thousands of petitions for relief are pending with the courts.”
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SC notice to Centre, Punjab on MD’s plea New Delhi, April 25 Taking cognizance of the petition of Front Runner Footwear MD Samdev Dasgupta, seeking CBI probe in the case, a Bench of Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Mr Justice B.P. Singh also issued notices to nine Punjab police officials. Mr Dasgupta in his petition alleged that the Punjab police officials had “framed” him at the behest of a Patiala businessman in a false rape case. He was forced to sign a post-dated cheque for Rs 1.80 crore under duress after being detained illegally in January this year, he added. The footwear chief said the Punjab police had intervened in his civil dispute with a Patiala businessman over a flat in Capital’s Kasturba Gandhi marg area. He was illegally taken to Fetehgarh Sahib by the state police without taking mandatory consent of the Delhi police, the petition said. Before getting bail from the Fatehgarh Sahib Sessions Court, he was remanded in the police custody by a local Magistrate, his counsel Harish Salve said.
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Four held for selling fake stamp papers New Delhi, April 25 The CBI is probing their links, if any, with multi-crore stamp paper scam main accused Abdul Karim Telgi. On a tip off, the CBI swooped the residential premises of Mantoo Sharma in Baranagar and recovered non-judicial stamp papers to the tune of Rs 12 lakh.
— PTI |
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Former DGP of Manipur gunned down Imphal, April 25 Meanwhile, banned outfit Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) has claimed responsibility for the killing. In a statement issued last night, the KYKL said the attack was carried out by a special operation team of the outfit.
— UNI
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Big B to render PM’s poems Jaisalmer, April 25 During the ceremony Amitabh was asked if he could lend his voice to Mr Vajpayee’s poems. “I readily agreed,” said the actor, who was here in connection with a film shoot.
— UNI |
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Poverty greatest hurdle: Kalam Kochi, April 25 Addressing his favourite audience — about 500 children from three Naval schools here — Kalam asked them to have a mind that is always curious, questioning and thinking, which would help them to achieve their aim in life. To a query on which was the greatest hurdle the country is facing — poverty, illiteracy or religious intolerance, he replied poverty.
— PTI |
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HC to
decide validity of NALCO probe Mumbai,
April 25 Mr Justice Ajit Shah
and Mr Justice Abhay Oka stayed the probe temporarily till April 28
after the victim complained that the probe committee was biased
against her and that during the inquiry she was asked to demonstrate
the alleged act of molestation committed by the accused.
— PTI
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Ship stranded due to labour unrest Kolkata, April 25 The ship, carrying 756 passengers, including several foreign tourists has been now lying anchored at the Man O’ War jetty at Kidderpore under the ‘possession’ of the CITU-controlled agitating seamen who, they allege, have been denied of their payment dues for several months.
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