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Srinagar, April 29Mrs Sonia Gandhi will be the Congress candidate for prime ministership, senior party leader and PCC president Ghulam Nabi Azad said here today. Talking to reporters here this afternoon, Mr Azad said the Congress was fighting the elections under the leadership of Mrs Gandhi and she would be the party’s candidate for Prime Ministership. PCC President Ghulam Nabi Azad addresses a
Press conference in Srinagar on Thursday.
— Photo by Amin War
Congress hopes to get support of
Mulayam
Cong activists beat up dhaba owner, booked |
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Mehbooba vitiating poll
process, says BJP
Advani to campaign in Udhampur today
Army chief reviews security
25 kg RDX seized in valley
Missing youth held after 9 years
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If Cong wins, Sonia to be PM, says Azad
Srinagar, April 29 However, he clarified that the issue would be resolved with allies and other parties after the results were declared. When asked to comment on the reported statement of Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar that he was also in the race for Prime Ministership, Mr Azad quipped that he should have wanted for the last result to be out. ‘’The main agenda before us is to defeat the BJP-led NDA,’’ he said adding that the leadership issue could be resolved amicably with consensus. However, he pointed out that Communist parties, who were not in the Congress-led alliance, had made it clear that they had no problem with Mrs Gandhi. He expressed hope that the Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would make a clean sweep in the state. ‘’We expect to win at least five seats in the state,’’ he said claiming that the BJP would not be able to win a single seat this time. About the peace process initiated by the NDA government with Pakistan and the Hurriyat Conference, he said it was the Congress which had forced the Centre to take these steps. He said the Congress had specified in its manifesto that once it was brought to power it would hold talks with the people in Jammu and Kashmir, but militants had to drop their guns first before any dialogue, he added. About the National Conference, he said it had no role in the national politics now. When asked if there would be a hung Parliament, he said the Congress and its allies would get the majority to form the government. However, in case of hung Parliament it would be an acid test for Mr Mulayam Singh and Ms Mayawati. Both of them had time and again announced that they would not extend support to the BJP-led government at the centre, he said adding that if they wanted to see a secular government they would have to prove their secular image. Mr Azad who campaigned in different states for the party candidates said despite all hurdles created by the government in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress would make a clean sweep in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha poll. |
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Congress hopes to get support of
Mulayam
Srinagar, April 29 Addressing a press conference at the end of his two-day visit to the valley campaigning for its ally, the PDP in the Anantnag constituency, Mr Azad hinted at getting the support of Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) and Mayawati (BSP) that had not allied with any party and claimed to be secular parties. Mr Azad, who is also the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief, said that the ruling BJP and its allies were faced with various setbacks in the ongoing elections and were, losing ground across the country. Mr Azad said after the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections a different picture of the NDA had emerged. “The government had created a false picture like ‘India shining’,” but the case was otherwise, Mr Azad said. He added Gujarat was “stinking” and even the Supreme Court of India had lost faith in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. He pointed out that cases from Gujarat were shifted to Maharashtra while those from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka. Over 4,500 farmers had been forced by circumstances and poverty to commit suicide in three years’ of NDA rule, Mr Azad claimed. Mr Azad claimed that the Congress would get most of the seats in northern states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal and Delhi, while the BJP and its allies would not succeed in getting any seats in the region. He added that the BJP and its ally, the National Conference though separated, would be getting only one seat in Jammu and Kashmir, while these would go to the Congress and its allies. The AICC general secretary claimed that the BJP and its allies, particularly the TDP in Andhra Pradesh were faced with setback on various grounds, that was followed by his 675 meetings held in the state during the past five months. He said that the party had got massive support in Tamil Nadu, Orissa and West Bengal. Mr Azad held that there would be a “total reverse” in the Andhra Pradesh both in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh Government had used all means to turn the tide in its favour but had failed in the recent poll. He claimed that over 1.20 crore bogus votes had been created in Andhra Pradesh, of which over 90,000 were identified and nullified by the Election Commission at the intervention of the Congress. |
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Cong activists beat up dhaba owner, booked
Jammu, April 29 Efforts of Education Minister Harshdev Singh to pacify them, failed. The police has registered a case against the Congress workers who beat up Jaswant Singh, who is also an activist of the Panthers Party. They also beat up a policeman, Ganesh Singh, who reached the spot to bring the situation under control. Trouble brewed last night when the supporters of Mr Lal Singh allegedly refused to pay the dhaba owner for the food they had while returning from the campaign in Doda. A bandh was observed here today in protest against the incident. |
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Mehbooba vitiating poll
process, says BJP
Jammu, April 29 In a statement here, Mr Hari Om alleged that Ms Mehbooba Mufti stormed many polling booths in Srinagar along with her supporters and forcibly removed the burqas of women who had come to cast their vote. He said it was strange that the Election Commission was silent on the matter and had not initiated any action against her. The Congress and the Panthers Party too had not reacted to the incident which showed that they had joined hands in rigging the elections. He said that although the BJP had nothing in common with the National Conference, it was in full accord with the NC when it said that the ruling coalition partners had thrown all democratic norms to the winds on the day of polling in Srinagar. Mr Hari Om alleged that Ms Mehbooba Mufti was trying to mislead the people of Kashmir by making speeches that she would fight for their political rights in Parliament. Meanwhile, Dr Nirmal Singh, state BJP chief, while condemning the terrorist attack on the NC rally at Doda, described it as a manifestation of frustration of the enemies of peace and anti-India forces. |
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Advani to campaign in Udhampur today
Jammu, April 29 Mr Advani will first address a rally in Udhampur town and later back to Pathankot from where he will drive by road to Hira Nagar in Kathua district to address another rally. The nearly 38-km road show of Mr Advani on the highway between Pathankot and Hira Nagar is expected to boost the morale of party workers. Mr Advani terminated his rath yeatra at Amritsar and no top leader of any party had undertaken such a long journey by road in the state because of security reasons. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had campaigned for the Jammu Parliamentary constituency. As the contest in Udhampur is becoming tough, the local unit of the party has also invited senior BJP leaders, Mr Arun Jaitley, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, Swami Chinmayanand and Mr Raj Nath Singh, who will visit the constituency later. Polling for the Udhampur constituency will be held on May 10. |
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Army chief reviews security
Jammu, April 29 Dr Kalam will be visiting Udhampur for the second time in the past few months. He would interact with children of a school run by the Army and visit the Army Hospital. He is likely to visit some forward areas in Rajouri district and interact with soldiers. General Vij visited various Army locations in the Jammu region and was briefed about the counter-terrorist operations. |
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25 kg RDX seized in valley
Srinagar, April 29 Official sources said militants detonated an IED in a school at Kulgam in south Kashmir late last night. However, no loss of life or damage to property was reported in the blast. The school has been identified as polling booth for the May 5 polling in the Anantnag constituency. Militants also attacked a BSF patrol at Rajpora in Pulwama district last evening, official sources said. A driver of a private vehicle hired by the BSF for election duty was injured. Security forces detected and defused a live grenade at Ziyarat Batmaloo this morning, they said. An official spokesman said security forces busted a hideout and recovered 15 kg of RDX, 1500 cartridges, 14 detonators, 11 60 mm mortar bomb, six mortar fuses and 10 cartridges of 60 mm mortar at Doda last night. Security forces also recovered 10 kg of RDX, 156 grenades, 3500 rounds of ammunition, 13 remote control devices, 56 detonators and five coils of cordex wire in different search operations in north Kashmir. Militants kidnapped school teacher Master Hifizullah and later shot at and wounded him at Waterhal in the central Kashmir district of Badgam today. He was hospitalised. —
UNI
Jammu, April 29 Official sources said Lance Naik Sunil Kumar was cleaning his rifle when it went off all of a sudden and the bullet pierced his body, resulting in his death. In the past five days, this is the second incident of the death of a jawan due to accidental fire in Rajouri district. —
UNI |
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Missing youth held after 9 years
Jammu, April 29 The name of Fayaz Hussain, 26, from Kothian village figures in a list taken out by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). He was arrested by the security forces under suspicious circumstances in the Manjakote forests this morning, the official sources said. Fayaz had gone missing in January 1995 and his parents had registered an FIR at the Rajouri police station, they said. After nine years, he was arrested by the security forces, they said, adding that preliminary interrogation revealed that Fayaz was forcibly taken by militants and used as a porter. “When Fayaz was kidnapped by the militants, he was just 17 years old. Allegation that the security forces have taken and killed him have therefore been proved wrong,” the official sources added. “The heinous crime was committed by the militants not the security forces. But despite this, the APDP continues to raise a hue and cry over human rights violations by the security forces,” they added. —
PTI |
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