 |
|
Seven die in pre-poll clashes in Bengal Kolkata, May 8 
Pre-poll clashes have taken seven lives and injured some 20 in West Bengal where elections are to be held in 42 Lok Sabha constituencies on May 10 along with 15 other states in the last phase of the poll.Para-military forces patrol in Kolkata on Saturday. — Reuters photo
Cong-BJP men clash in Guna
Polling was peaceful, Laloo tells EC |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Basu not in race for PM’s
post
Haryana Jat Mahasabha backs
Congress Shekhawat calls on Sharad,
sets off speculation
Govt steps to ensure Indians’s security in
Iraq
Blast accused died in custody, govt
admits
Pilot killed by copter blade
I will make a difference: IAS topper
TV cameraman killed
|
|
Seven die in pre-poll clashes in
Bengal
Kolkata, May 8 The BJP President, Mr Venkaiah Naidu, now on the campaign in the state, hoped the BJP-Trinamool tie-up would get at least 15 seats in West Bengal, which would strengthen the NDA. The Bengal Marxist Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that an alternative secular front government would come to power in which the CPI(M) and the Left Front parties would play an important role in the government’s policy-making. He said the CPI(M) might also join the government. The state Chief Electoral officer (CEO), Mr Basudev Bandopadhyya said arrangements had been made to man all 48,768 booths with adequate police personnel and polling personnel brought from outside for conducting free and fair elections. According to the Home Department, the clashes in which mostly the CPI(M), Trinamool Congress, Congress and RSP workers and supporters were involved, occurred in the past 24 hours in districts like North 24-Parganas, Midnapore, Burdwan, Hooghly and Howrah in south Bengal and Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur and Darjeeling in north Bengal. At Keshpur in Midnapore, two persons — one belonging to the CPI(M) and another to the Trinamool Congress — were killed in a clash last night in which firearms were freely used. At Jalpaiguri, two groups, stated to be the supporters of the Trinamool Congress and the RSP, fought in the Alipurduar tea gardens areas with spears and daggers. One TMC worker was killed. In a similar incident near the Duars, the INTUC and CITU workers clashed which resulted in the death of two persons. The CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress(l) workers were involved in a pitched battle at Jagatdal and Bijpur industrial areas in North 24-Parganas this morning in which firearms been freely used. The trouble arose over the taking out of a procession by the TMC and BJP men in support of their candidate Arjun Singh against the sitting CPI(M) MP, Mr Tarit Tofdar. Over 50 persons belonging to the TMC and the CPI(M) were injured, 20 seriously. The TMC candidate, Mr Arjun Singh himself was a victim of the attack and was taken to a local nursing home with a bullet injury. Tension prevailed in the area following the incident. RAF and CRPF personnel have been deployed in the area for maintaining peace. |
|
Cong-BJP men clash in Guna
Shivpuri (MP), May 8 The clash followed alleged attempt by Congress workers to abduct nephew of the BJP candidate Punit Shukla, according to DSP Satyendra Shukla. A case has been registered against eight Congress workers, including former state minister Mahendra Singh Kalukheda, he said adding that a counter-complaint had also been filed by the Congress workers. Punit’s brother Jagdish sustained minor injuries on his hand, though no major injury was reported in the scuffle. Tension gripped the township as the news of the clash broke out. Security at both the party offices had been stepped up, Mr Shukla said. Meanwhile, Mr Scindia expressed apprehension about “large-scale irregularities by anti-social elements” in the area during polling on May 10. “The Election Commission is being informed and urged to make fool proof security arrangements in the entire constituency. There is a higher possibility of irregularities at Pichhor, Pohri and certain other places within this district,” he told mediapersons here.
PTI |
|
Polling was peaceful, Laloo tells EC
New Delhi, May 8 EC sources said the two-member fact-finding team which went to Chapra on Sunday and Monday last following complaints of large scale rigging and violence in the key constituency was yet to submit its report. The RJD chief is pitted against Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy in the constituency. After a nearly 30-minute meeting with the three-member commission, Mr Laloo Yadav told reporters that polling was peaceful in Bihar this time “and the credit goes to the Election Commission, the state government and Laloo Prasad Yadav”. “Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy and other NDA ministers have raised a hue and cry and misled the commission that there were irregularities in polling in Chapra,” he said. Asked about his opinion on the BJP demand for the countermanding of polling in Chapra, the RJD supremo said the NDA leaders had submitted false reports to the Commission. “We have told the Commission that it was free to hold repoll in those polling booths where it felt there was rigging. We are not making any demand as polling was peaceful,” he said. Mr Yadav said he appealed to the commission “not to get carried away by the NDA’s demand for countermanding Chapra poll and do only what it thought fit.” Regarding the polling in Siwan and Bettiah, the two places where the commission had ordered inquiry into charges of irregularities, the RJD leader refuted the allegation that booths had been captured. He asserted that the polling was peaceful. Even the repolling was over in these two constituencies, he pointed out. Referring to JD(U)’s demands for repolling in over 200 booths in Madhepura, where Mr Laloo Yadav is pitted against his friend-turned-foe Sharad Yadav, the former Bihar Chief Minister maintained that the polling was peaceful in that key constituency. On his allegation that BSF personnel were found helping the voters in two polling stations in Madhepura to cast their ballots, Mr Yadav demanded that action should be taken against those securitymen as their role could lower the credibility of the para-military forces. The poll panel said the repolling in Bihar, to be held on May 10, would also include 15 polling stations in Madhepura. The repoll was ordered in as many as 92 polling booths in Munger, followed by 39 in Banka, 20 in Khagaria, 18 in Saharsa and 13 in Begusarai. |
|
Basu not in race for PM’s post
Kolkata, May 8 However, if a non-BJP and or non-Congress government is not formed then they will accept Congress participation with Sonia Gandhi as prime minister. But whether the CPM will join the government or not will be decided after a politburo and central committee meeting to be held in New Delhi on May 15 and 16, he said in contradiction to the party’s present stand of not joining any
Congress led coalition government. — OC |
|
|
Haryana Jat Mahasabha backs
Congress New Delhi, May 8 Office-bearers of the Jat Mahasabha put in a special appearance at the AICC headquarters today where they came down heavily on the NDA government and the Chautala government, stating that their members will “vote and support” the Congress in the May 10 election. Mr Kuldeep Gochhwal, chairman of the Jat Mahasabha, told mediapersons that the organisation’s 32,000 workers and 6.25 lakh members would go flat out in its support for the Congress. He said their organisation held innumberable meetings to do some serious introspection on the NDA government’s treatment of farmers and its policies on agriculture. He said there was resentment against the NDA government and the Chautala government as farmers had suffered most under these regimes. The Jat Mahasabha’s open support came as a morale-booster for the Congress, especially since Jats are a powerful community and have a crucial role to play in Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh which are headed for the elections on May 10. The Congress had paid a heavy price for the alienation of the Jat community in last year’s Assembly poll when it was routed in the state. The party is hoping that the support extended by Jats in Haryna will also have an impact in the 18 seats of Western Utter Pradesh which go to the polls on Monday. |
|
|
Shekhawat calls on Sharad,
sets off speculation New Delhi, May 8 Mr Shekhawat, it was stated, had gone to Mr Pawar’s residence to enquire about his health. The NCP leader, who underwent surgery recently, returned from London after a medical check-up only last night. Mr Pawar refused to comment on the 30-minute meeting but NCP General Secretary Tariq Anwar maintained that it was a “courtesy call” and no political meaning should be read into it. The Congress, on its part, dismissed speculation over the meeting as “meaningless” with party spokesperson Abhishekh Singhvi stating there was nothing wrong in Mr Shekhawat calling on Mr Pawar to enquire about his health. Despite repeated denials, questions are being raised about the timing of the meeting, particularly since Mr Shekhawat is known as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s trouble-shooter.
|
|
Govt steps to ensure Indians’s security in
Iraq
New Delhi, May 8 It also made it clear that no Indian police officer had been sent to Iraq for training of Iraqi police, nor was there any concrete proposal under consideration for sending such officers there or anywhere else for this purpose. Discounting a media report about India deputing police officers to Iraq, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said “some preliminary and informal” exercise was undertaken earlier this year to explore the possibility of such a training programme in India or elsewhere outside Iraq. He said the government’s immediate priority was to ensure the safety and security of Indian nationals, including ex-servicemen, who had been taken to Iraq by recruiting agents on false assurances in contravention of emigration requirements. |
|
Arko Dutta gets awards for Iraq pictures
Mumbai, May 8 Dutta was chosen for the award at the Mumbai Press Club Photo Contest, 2004, in the categories of General News Photograph of the Year, Spot News, General News, Sports and Daily Life. Shot in Tikrit, “The General News Photograph’’ of the Year depicts the despair and hope of a girl as US soldiers search her house. His other prize-winning entries are equally thought-provoking and rich in content, the awards jury noted. —
UNI |
|
Blast accused died in custody, govt
admits
Mumbai, May 8 After more than an year of contending that Khwaja Yunus escaped from police custody, the Maharashtra Police yesterday officially changed its stand at a hearing. Public prosecutor Rohini Salian agreed with the POTA review panel that the evidence did indicate that Yunus could have only died at the hands of investigators. The Maharashtra Government has also agreed to a probe by the state CID into the incident. The High Court, on April 30, threw out an FIR prepared by investigators that claimed that the accused had escaped when the vehicle in which he was being transported met with an accident. The policemen with him had claimed that they had fainted and that when they came around Yunus had disappeared. The Bombay High Court has ordered investigators to probe the FIR filed by Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze and corroborated by his junior officers. Waze has been arrested under
POTA. |
|
Pilot killed by copter blade
New Delhi, May 8 The engine had been switched on by the co-pilot even before the minister boarded the craft. Wing Commander
G.S. Madan, Pawan Hans General Manager for northern India, said he was giving instructions from the ground when he walked into the tail rotor. —
UNI |
|
|
I will make a difference: IAS topper
Bhubaneswar, May 8 My husband is my friend and he initiated me into this system of examination,” she said as a proud Tripathy, a fellow at IIM, Calcutta, stood by her. “I was thrilled, I wept,” Mishra, the daughter of Danda Nirodh Mishra, an IAS officer and Usha Mishra, said. Ms Mishra said she had chosen to join the IAS and opted for Orissa cadre. She had studied science at the plus two level and then changed to the commerce stream in college and did her post-graduation in management from Utkal University. She briefly worked for a local TV channel anchoring programmes and also taught at the Directorate of Distant and Continuing Education (DDCE) of the Utkal University. Ms Mishra, who had public administration and psychology as her subjects, stayed in Delhi for ten months to prepare for the exam. Mishra is the first IAS topper from the state since Prafulla Chandra Mishra in 1982 and Hrusikesh Panda in 1979. —
PTI |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Roopa Mishra, the first Oriya girl to top the IAS examinations of 2003, today said she strongly believed in leading by example.
“I aim to make a difference,” she said here. Ms Mishra attributed her success to her husband Anshuman
Tripathy, parents, in-laws and teachers.“
Videos
