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Phase 6 witnesses over 60% polling
Varun disowns statements
Digvijay Singh takes a dig at Team Anna
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Chidambaram for separate probe, prosecution wings in police
Stratfor accuses Wiki of stealing vital data
SC urged to define ‘jihad’ to prevent exploitation of youth
Homosexuality
Stung by hackers, Andhra to
draw up IT security policy
BJP ex-chief booked for
illegal mining in Bihar
MI to be equipped for automated inspection of cargo vehicles
Bhanwari case:
Maderna, Mahipal to be chargesheeted
3 held in RTI activist murder case
4 children die as bus rolls into canal
Four NGOs booked for funding Kudankulam N-plant protests
K’taka N-plant: Govt toughens stand
Two hurt in Guwahati grenade blast
River-linking will multiply woes: ‘Waterman’
Sonia flies out for ‘routine check-up’
Shift 48 Pak prisoners from jail to detention centres, SC tells govt
Samjhauta Blasts
Adarsh scam: HC summons ED director, warns of forming SIT
FM radio CEO held for molesting woman employee, released on bail
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Lucknow, February 28 The 13 districts of the state's Jatland that went to the polls today have six big cities. It was the biggest polling exercise in terms of number of voters, said Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha. During the 2007 Assembly elections, the number of voters in these districts was 89.48 lakh, which rose to 1.29 crores this time. The highest percentage of polling was reported in Saharanpur district (64.86 per cent). In contrast, barely 50 per cent of voters in the industrial township of up-market Noida chose to cast their votes. The 13 districts that went to polls today included Saharanpur, Prabuddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Panchsheel Nagar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mahamaya Nagar, Mathura and Agra. At three polling stations of Saharanpur under the Behat Assembly constituency, hundreds of villagers boycotted the poll, protesting against the lack of development in their villages. Re-polling has been ordered at the SR Public school polling station in the Vijay Nagar area of Ghaziabad as the EVM machine there had not been cleared after the mock drill.
Varun disowns statements
Lucknow, February 28 "I have never stated that the SP would form the next government in Uttar Pradesh. I merely predicted the complete meltdown of the BSP in this election and further theorised that by implication, the seats of other parties may rise," he said in a written statement. On the issue of 55 chief ministerial candidates in the BJP, he said, "I never stated that the BJP had 55 CM aspirants. I had merely said that unlike the Congress, which had a paucity of state leadership, the BJP had at least 55 persons who's leadership was both accepted and respected in the state."
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Kejriwal’s Failure to cast vote
New Delhi, February 28 Digvijay attacked Team Anna and Kejriwal for not practising what they preach in all their statements and speech. "Obviously Team Anna doesn't practice what it preaches! They should clarify whether they believe in democracy or not,” he tweeted “If they do believe in democracy, then what form of democracy,” he again tweeted. Digvijay also tweeted: "Great protectors of probity in public life. Anna doesn't go to vote. Kejriwal doesn't care to see whether he is registered as a voter." Yesterday, Digvijay had attacked the Team Anna for not respecting democracy and said "Team Anna want people to vote out corrupt people. We would like to know did Anna cast his vote in panchayat elections in his village." Earlier on the day, Kejriwal faced some protests as he decided to leave for Goa for campaigning without casting his vote in the UP polls. When he did come back to exercise his franchise, he could not do so because his name was missing from the electoral rolls. “I have a voter identity card. My name was in the voters' list on the earlier occasions,” he said. Kejriwal was expected to cast his vote at a polling station in Indirapuram area, but he left in the morning for Delhi to catch a flight for Goa. However, some persons protested against his action, prompting Kejriwal to return to the polling booth. On him initially deciding not to cast his votes, Kejriwal said the Team Anna programme in Goa was finalised a month in advance and at that time, they did not realise that the voting day and campaigning programme would clash.
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Chidambaram for separate probe, prosecution wings in police
New Delhi, February 28 Expeditious trial of cases has to be ensured by making necessary changes in procedure. States must create a separate investigation cadre and prosecution cadre, Chidambaram today told the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting of the Ministry of Home Affairs while discussing the topic: Investigation, Prosecution and Trial - the need for revamping. He informed members that the Law Commission of India has been requested to give a report on the amendments required immediately. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in its 146th Report has recommended that there should be comprehensive review of the criminal justice system and introduction of composite draft legislation for revamping of the criminal justice system in the country. Accordingly, the Ministry of Law and Justice have been requested to request the Law Commission of India to examine and give a comprehensive report covering all aspects of criminal law.
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Stratfor accuses Wiki of stealing vital data
New Delhi, February 28 George Friedman, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stratfor, sent the e-mail to the company’s global list of subscribers. The Wikleaks in its latest expose had termed Startfor as a “Shadow CIA (Central Investigative Agency”. “Stratfor will not be silenced and we will continue to publish the geopolitical analysis our friends and subscribers have come to rely on”, Friedman said in his e-mail. “Stratfor has worked to build good sources in many countries around the world as any publisher of geopolitical analysis would do. We are proud of the relationships we have built, which help our analysts better, understand the issues in many of these countries through the eyes of people who live there, the email said while elucidating the stand of Stratfor. “We want to assure everyone that Stratfor is recovering from the hack (of its computers systems). We will continue to do what we do best: produce and publish independent analysis of international affairs. And we will be back in full operation in the coming weeks. We look forward to continuing to serve you.” Friedman said thieves hacked into Stratfor data systems in December and stole a large number of company e-mails as well as private information of Stratfor subscribers and friends. “Today Wikileaks is publishing the e-mails that were stolen in December. This is a deplorable, unfortunate -- and illegal -- breach of privacy. Some of the e-mails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies. Some may be authentic. We will not validate either, nor will we explain the thinking that went into them”. The release of these e-mails was a direct attack on Stratfor, it said adding that relationships with individuals and partnerships with local media were developed in a straightforward manner and we are committed to meeting the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct. Stratfor was not a government organisation, nor is it affiliated with any government. The e-mails are a private property. Like all private e-mails, they were written casually, with no expectation that anyone other than the sender and recipient would ever see them. And clearly, as with my supposed resignation letter, some of the e-mails may be fabricated or altered, Friedman said.
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SC urged to define ‘jihad’ to prevent exploitation of youth
New Delhi, February 28 Arguing for the state government on the appeal filed by LeT terrorist Ajmal Kasab, sentenced to death for the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, senior counsel Gopal Subramanium said this was necessary as SC observations were taken seriously by the people, particularly the youth. He was arguing before a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai. ‘Jihad,’ which denoted the victory of good over evil, had become a much-maligned and dreaded word following its misinterpretation by fanatics, he contended. All the 10 Pakistani terrorists, including Kasab, were victims of such indoctrination, he explained.
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Homosexuality R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, February 28 A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya made the remark when Additional Solicitor-General (ASG) Mohan Jain, appearing for the Health Ministry, said the government did not find anything wrong with the Delhi High Court verdict decriminalising homosexual acts among consenting adults in privacy. The Bench told Jain that the Home Ministry had already argued in the court through another ASG PP Malhotra, challenging the HC verdict. Malhotra had argued for more than three hours against the verdict and as such Jain should restrict himself to health-related aspects of the case. The government “can’t make a mockery of the system” and waste the time of the court by taking different stands through various ministries, the Bench clarified. The Bench also refused to accept a note from Jain stating that the ministers of Home, Health and Law had taken a decision against appealing against the HC verdict which was later endorsed by the Cabinet. If the Health Ministry wanted to make any assertion, it should be done by way of filing a sworn affidavit, the Bench observed. Upon this, Jain said the ministry would do so in two-three days. Jain went on to argue that due to criminalisation of homosexual acts under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) people with such behaviour refused to disclose their orientation and this was proving to be a hindrance in effectively dealing with the problem of HIV/AIDS. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader BP Singhal argued through his counsel, HP Sharma, that restrictions on sexual orientation were in the interest of the society. The way censorship was a reasonable restriction on the fundamental right to expression, criminalisation of gay sex was a necessary clamp on the right to liberty, he contended.
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Stung by hackers, Andhra to
draw up IT security policy
Hyderabad, February 28 The new policy was aimed at providing security firewall for all government websites to minimise the scope for hacking, the officials said. The state government has constituted a committee with members from the Information Technology and Communications (IT&C) department, NASSCOM, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Data Centre Operator (Wipro) and security specialists from Cyber Security works. The draft of the proposed policy will be available by March 10. It would be circulated to all the stakeholders for necessary feedback and suggestions for further improvement, the Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah said. The IT major Wipro has also been asked to report unusual traffic hits on the Web, so that remedial steps can be initiated by IT&C department. The decision to formulate an IT security policy came in the backdrop of cyber attack targeting 21 government websites. Just a day before the presentation of the annual State Budget on February 17, the hackers had wreaked havoc, breaking into 21 government websites, including the Finance Department at AP State Data Centre. After a week, 15 Websites have been restored, while some are under review and testing, the minister said. However, there was no impact on the data pertaining to the annual Budget which was presented in the Assembly as per schedule by the Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy. The hackers did not deface the home pages of departmental websites but added additional pages with their messages indicating that the cyber intruders were not radical hackers and that their intention was not to steal any information. It was just a case of hackers trying to demonstrate their capabilities, the officials said. A CID probe into the hacking revealed that it was not a targeted attack as there was no financial loss.
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BJP ex-chief booked for
illegal mining in Bihar
Patna, February 28 Singh has been charged with illegitimate quarrying and under various sections of the Explosives Act as the police recovered a large quantity of explosives and detonators from his office during the raid in the Muffasil area of Sasaram on Sunday. Rohtas SP Manu Maharaj was leading the raid party against illegal mines. The henchmen of people involved in illegal quarrying fired upon the SP’s vehicle to block movement of the police. Later, they tried to crush his vehicle with the help of a JCB machine. But the police succeeded in nabbing 40 persons from the spot. It also seized 70 tractors, six pokland machines, three compressors and two JCBs being used in excavation. Altogether 80 bags of ammonium nitrate (each weighing 50 kg), a highly explosive substance, and over 50,000 detonators and other materials used by the illegal miners were also recovered from the spot. The Rohtas SP said the police would pursue legal proceedings, including arrest of the accused persons after obtaining a warrant of arrest against them from the court. An FIR was registered against Gopal Narayan Singh under the same charge (illegal quarrying) in November 2011 when the district administration had raided the forest areas of
Sasaram.
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MI to be equipped for automated inspection of cargo vehicles
Chandigarh, February 28 “There is an urgent requirement to procure and install Full Body Truck Scanners which are capable of scanning standard cargo trucks loaded with goods, including driver’s cabin, without unloading and unpacking the cargo to avoid illegal transshipment of restricted items like arms, ammunition and chemicals,” a request for information (RFI) floated by the Army’s MI Directorate this week states. The scanners are expected to be deployed primarily in counter-insurgency environment in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East. Sources said such equipment being installed at other sensitive places and high-security zones, where there is frequent movement of cargo vehicles, is also possible. The Army has been considering procuring similar scanners for the past two yeas. It had issued a similar RFI last year, but apparently the move did not make any headway. According to the RFI document, the scanners should be able to detect various types of small and medium arms, which could be concealed in the cargo. These could include pistols, revolvers, sub-machine guns, carbine, assault rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, hand grenades, shot guns, rocket launchers, mortars and grenade launchers along with the assorted ammunition used for them. The scanners should also be able detect radioactive and nuclear material as well as sniff out various explosives, different types of detonators, circuits, cordex wires, electronic components and chemicals, which could be assembled to prepare or fabricate improvised explosive devices. Besides having the ability to discriminate organic and inorganic material, they should be able to detect hidden cavities in the vehicle’s body. The Army’s requirement is for systems that can scan at least 20 vehicles per hour along with the ability to scan, process, interpret and digitally store the data and images generated during the inspection process.
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Bhanwari case:
Maderna, Mahipal to be chargesheeted
New Delhi, February 28 CBI sources said the chargesheet may be filed tomorrow which will elaborate on the murder conspiracy and claimed that there was enough evidence with the agency to nail Maderna and Malkhan Singh in the case. The agency had filed a chargesheet in the case last December, but Singh and Maderna were not named in it. Sources in the agency said the auxiliary nurse had been strangulated and later her body was burnt. Her ashes and her belongings were dumped in the nearby Rajiv Gandhi canal. One of the accused had told the CBI that her watch was also dumped in the canal, prompting the agency to seek the help of the Rajasthan Government in stopping the water flow to enable the investigators to look for evidence. The CBI had found the replaced latch of the watch from the residence of Bhanwari and it was identified by her son. The sources said that some political leaders in the state were aware of the conspiracy to murder her. —
PTI
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3 held in RTI activist murder case
Bhopal, February 28 Zahida Parvez, who was called for questioning at the CBI office here,
and an alleged contract killer she claimed to have hired for the murder were arrested, CBI sources said. A third person, identified as Irfan, was arrested by Uttar Pradesh State Task Force in a late night operation in Kanpur, SP (Crime) Ashfaq Ahmad said.
"The arrested accused persons will be produced in the designated court in Bhopal tomorrow," CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said in New Delhi. Agency sources claimed Zahida has confessed before CBI sleuths that it was she who had ordered Masood's murder because she was suspicious of Masood's relations with her husband. Pervez had reportedly told the CBI that the killing was executed by a contract killer hired by her. On September 6 last, the CBI took over investigations into the murder as no witnesses were coming forward to share any information even as the shooting had taken place in broad daylight in a posh locality here. Last month, the agency had doubled the reward money to Rs 10 lakh for providing information leading to the arrest in connection with the activist's murder who was shot dead outside her house at Koh-e-Fiza locality on August 16, when she was going to take part in protests in support of Jan Lokpal Bill. Masood was an RTI activist who had worked in several areas, including environment protection and anti-corruption movement. — PTI
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4 children die as bus rolls into canal
Hyderabad, February 28 The mishap occurred near the coastal village of G. Peddapudi when a private bus, belonging to Sai Teja Public School from P Gannavaram, lost balance and plunged into an irrigation canal. The body of a boy was retrieved from the canal while a girl succumbed to her injuries on way to the hospital. All the occupants of the bus were LKG and UKG students. According to police, the bus was carrying 45 children back home when the tragedy struck. The villagers could rescue 20 of them while several children were still missing. The injured have been admitted to a hospital at Amalapuram. The district collector and other officials rushed to the spot, about 65 km from the district headquarters of Rajahmundry, to supervise the rescue operations.
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Four NGOs booked for funding Kudankulam N-plant protests
New Delhi, February 28 "Cases have been registered against four NGOs for violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act," Union Home Secretary RK Singh told mediapersons here. The action came days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stated that NGOs have received support from abroad for leading protests against the much-awaited nuclear power plant. Bank accounts of the four NGOs have been frozen after an inquiry conducted by the Home Ministry reportedly found these diverting funds meant for charity to fuel the protests. The cases were registered by the Crime Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police and the CBI. Earlier, a German national was picked up by Tamil Nadu Police in Nagercoil for allegedly assisting the protests and deported him in the wee hours today. Sonnteg Reiner Hermann (49), against whom a 'look-out notice' was issued by the Home Ministry, was detained by the police monitoring the anti-KNPP protests after they were alerted by central intelligence agencies. Hermann had arrived in India on a tourist visa and had been helping the protesters in contravention of the visa rules which invited the 'look-out notice'. "He had no business to be in Nagercoil. He had violated all the visa rules and hence we have deported him," a senior official said. In his interview to the 'Science' magazine, the Prime Minister said some NGOs do not appreciate India's growing energy requirements. "There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and the Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces. But we are a democracy, we are not like China," he had said on the commissioning of two 1,000-MW nuclear reactors that has been stalled due to protests. Union Minister of State for PMO V Narayanasamy said the NGOs were found to be diverting foreign funds for the anti-nuclear campaign in Kudankulam. "These NGOs were receiving funds from foreign countries for social service causes like helping the physically handicapped and eradication of leprosy but these were used for anti-nuclear protests," he said. — PTI
K’taka N-plant: Govt toughens stand
Bangalore: The authorities here have made an announcement which indicates that the government has decided to take a no-nonsense approach regarding the protest by villagers living near the nuclear power plant in Kaiga in Karnataka.
The “struggle committee” of villagers within the 5-km radius of the Kaiga plant has made it clear that they are not against nuclear energy. They want the government to acquire the villages in that radius, rehabilitate the residents and give a job at the plant to one member of each family. JP Gupta, site director of the Kaiga plant, said never was any assurance given to villagers that their land would be acquired by the NPCIL. — TNS
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Two hurt in Guwahati grenade blast
Guwahati, February 28 Guwahati Senior Superintendent of Police Apurba Jeevan Barua said two ULFA ultras were arrested in connection with the blast. The injured have been admitted to Guwahati Hospital, police sources said adding security has been tightened in and around the city.
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River-linking will multiply woes: ‘Waterman’
New Delhi, February 28 A day after the apex court had observed that the project was in “national interest,” Singh termed the plan that would result in “linking of sewage rather than waters”. The noted water activist told The Tribune that the “extravagant” exercise would not only multiply India’s water problems but would also be “disastrous for the country’s rich biodiversity”. “Linking of rivers is not like linking of roads. Rivers are living, breathing, life-giving entities with different bio-diversity and gene pool. They are like vessels carrying blood and you don’t mix different blood groups even as the last resort,” he said, terming the project would be like “playing with nature”. On the other hand, supporters of the project have been urging the government to ignore “motivated opposition to the project by self-seeking and sponsored NGOs” and start the work without any delay. Dismissing the allegation that he was being “obstructive”, Singh says: “If I was anti-development I would not have participated in construction of thousands of dams across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra,” he asserts. In fact, even former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has also gone on record saying that the Ken-Betwa river-linking project, the first plan of the kind to be initiated, was a disastrous idea and should not be pursued. “I say very strongly that it would be disastrous to link the two rivers and my ministry will never give the required environmental clearance to this,” Ramesh was quoted as saying about the Ken-Betwa project. While supporters say that inter-linking will take the economy to new heights by increasing agriculture production manifold and solving the drinking water shortage besides generating clean energy, Singh has explanation for his assertions on potentially negative fallout of such projects. Nature, he says, is well adjusted with requirements of existing flood-prone and drought zones. Linking of rivers will create new flood zones and new drought areas, a situation that would be in complete contrast to nature’s design and plan. “There are plenty of examples of land turning into swampy marshes in Rajasthan due to excess water supply,” he explains. Then is the pollution issue. According to Singh, some rivers are more polluted while others are less polluted. “One drop of curd has the capacity to change the nature of milk. Just imagine what polluted water laden with disease carrying bacteria and viruses will do to relatively clean waters if two diverse rivers are linked”. The SC had yesterday directed the Centre to constitute a committee headed by the Water Resources Minister for planning and implementing the project.
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Sonia flies out for ‘routine check-up’
A statement issued by Congress media department chief Janardan Dwivedi today said: “Congress president Sonia Gandhi has gone abroad for a routine check-up. She is expected to return after four or five days.” The Congress president had travelled to the US for treatment last August and had spent nearly six weeks there. However, the party did not officially disclose the country she had travelled to or the details of her medical condition. Sonia had then set up a formal group of leaders, including her son Rahul Gandhi, to manage party affairs in her absence. No such core team has been named this time. Party sources said it was not necessary to make such an arrangement as the Congress president was going to be away only for a few days. Sonia had resumed her official work after recuperating briefly on her return to India but slowed down her pace considerably on medical advice. Nevertheless, she has addressed several election rallies during the past month in the poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. She is expected to be back in time for the election results, which are to be declared on March 6.
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Shift 48 Pak prisoners from jail to detention centres, SC tells govt
New Delhi, February 28 A Bench of Justices RM Lodha and HL Gokhale also directed the government to provide medical facility to 21 of them who were found to be suffering from mental ailments. The court issued the directives on two PILs seeking the release and repatriation of the prisoners from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran and a few other countries who continued to languish in jails in various parts of the country despite serving out their terms. Of the 48 prisoners, 11 are Pakistani fishermen who were arrested by the Gujarat government but no case could be made out against them.
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Kamal’s father moves court, notice to NIA
Rajinder Nagarkoti/TNS
Panchkula, February 28 Radhey Shyam Chauhan, father, and Vishnu Chauhan, uncle of Kamal Chauhan, moved the Panchkula court alleging that Kamal had been arrested illegally. He was taken into custody from his village in Madhya Pradesh on February 10 but the NIA showed his arrested from Noida on February 12. They also alleged that the NIA was using third degree torture on Kamal. He demanded his immediate release from NIA’s custody. Meanwhile, Kamal’s counsel Shailender Babbar also informed the court that the directions should be given to the NIA to place on record the “confessions” made by SIMI activists under the narco analysis test performed in 2008. He pleaded that the said confessions have been ignored deliberately by the NIA wherein SIMI activists have confessed to their role in the Samjhauta train blasts. The court has now deferred the hearing for March 7 when Kamal’s bail application would come up for hearing.
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Adarsh scam: HC summons ED director, warns of forming SIT
Mumbai, February 28 Hitting out at the ED for being a “mute spectator”, Judges PB Majmudar and RD Dhanuka said the agency committed a “serious lapse” in not probing allegations of money laundering. “The ED has not moved an inch. It reflects a sorry state of affairs,” the court said. The judges then asked the Director of the agency to appear before them on March 12. Earlier, counsel for the ED told the court that it had not begun investigations into the matter as the CBI was conducting its own probe. “Why are you depending on the CBI? You are a separate agency and can conduct a probe independently,” Justice Majmudar said. The court also took cognisance of the slow pace of the investigations by the CBI. “Why have you not finished the investigation till now? It is a matter where many big names are concerned. You must be careful but at the same time, you cannot let people question your credibility,” the judges said. The court then asked the CBI to file a status report on the progress of the probe by the next date of hearing. The judges warned if they were not satisfied with the pace of the investigations, a special team would be set up to probe the matter. According to the CBI, investigations into the case were slowed down by the huge number of documents that needed to be examined. CBI counsel Mandar Goswami said the agency was also looking into “benami” transactions by members of the Adarsh Society. According to the CBI, many of the 104 members belonging to the society had purchased flats through “benami” transactions. The court has now asked the CBI to name all members who had purchased flats in the society through “benami” transactions. The judges also asked of the Maharashtra Government why the allotments made to the “benami” buyers had not been cancelled yet.
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FM radio CEO held for molesting woman employee, released on bail New Delhi, February 28 The complainant had approached the police last December. Police sources said a group of company employees had gone to Rajasthan late last year where the CEO allegedly molested her. A case of molestation was registered, a senior police official said, adding since molestation is a bailable offence, Bhatia was let out on bail. — PTI
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Poll Snippets
Blood is thicker than water. Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav proved this age-old maxim when he made an appearance to campaign for the Congress candidate from Sikandrabad in Bulandshahr, Jitendra Yadav, whose son has recently married Lalu's fourth daughter Ragini. Jitendra Yadav, a long-time Samajwadi Party leader joined the Congress just a few weeks ago after a fall out over the distribution of tickets in his former party. He was not only accepted in the Congress with open arms, but the party went a step further by dropping its already announced candidate Nizam Malik to accommodate Lalu's "samdhi". No wonder Lalu hit out at Mulayam Singh Yadav during the election meeting, charging him of not letting the Yadavas rise in western Uttar Pradesh. He accused senior SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan of denying Jitendra Yadav the SP ticket.
Nitin Gadkari goes filmi
Gruelling poll campaign
The strain of addressing several meetings in the gruelling seven-phase Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha elections is now showing on the star campaigners of various political parties. When Mulayam Singh Yadav arrived at Bijnore on Monday, he was in such a hurry to reach his next destination of Moradabad that he asked the present gathering to vote for the party candidates in Moradabad instead of Bijnore. A visibly tired SP president lost his cool when party functionaries in their usual fashion extended a welcome with an overstated garlanding ceremonies pointing out that he was behind schedule. Much to the disappointment of the waiting crowds, 'netaji' spoke for exactly eight minutes and his meeting from landing of helicopter to its take-off took exactly 28 minutes. (Compiled by Shahira
Naim)
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No untoward incident was reported during the sixth phase of polling for 68 seats in Uttar Pradesh today. The state witnessed a 13 per cent increase in polling percentage (60.08 per cent) as compared to the figure for 2007 poll (46.81 per cent).
New Delhi, February 28
New Delhi, February 28
Singing a line from the popular Hindi film song "Mein aai hun UP, Bihar lootne", BJP president Nitin Gadkari said leaders in UP were on a looting spree. They were even stripping money meant for medicine and health care, he said while addressing a rally in Sector 33 of Noida. He, however, proclaimed that now no one would be able to rob UP, Bihar any more. Gadkari's sharpest jibs are reserved for the Congress and its allies. Speaking at another rally in the Jat belt, Gadkari described the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal as a "taxi" that any one could hail. Hitting out at the Congress-RLD alliance, he said it was to help a father get the Chief Minister's chair for his son and mother get the Prime Minister's post for her son.