Wednesday, September 15, 1999
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Wednesday, September 15, 1999 |
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Cong focus on local
issues NAHAN (Sirmaur district): The Congress candidate, Mr Gangu Ram Musafir, for the Shimla (reserved) Lok Sabha seat is depending on the ‘son of the soil’ slogan to sail through. Mr Musafir belongs to Dilman village of the district. He is a sitting MLA representing the Pachhad segment. It is after 22 years that a candidate from Sirmaur district has been fielded by any major political party. Although the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC), which has fielded Lieut-Col Dhani Ram Shandil (retd) as its candidate, is leaving no stone unturned, the factor of being a local man seems to be going in favour of Mr Musafir in all five assembly segments of the district. Sharp dissensions among activists of the ruling BJP-HVC alliance are also reflecting on the campaign of Mr Shandil. These dissensions came in the open on Monday night when certain HVC activists allegedly removed the public address system from Bara Chowk just before the BJP leader, Mr Narendra Modi, was to address an election rally. Local leaders of the BJP allege that an effort was made by the HVC to ‘sabotage’ the rally. The bitterness among certain senior BJP leaders of the district over the issue of “fake” posters continues to persist. Local issues dominate electioneering by the Congress. Kargil has failed to become an election issue, despite efforts of the ruling alliance. Two soldiers from the district laid down their lives in the Kargil conflict. The BJP-HVC alliance, which is making every effort to make a dent in the Congress-dominated district, accuses the Congress leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, of having taken the district for granted and ignoring it completely in the matter of development during his tenure as Chief Minister. The Congress campaigners accuse the BJP of having failed to get the trans-Giri region declared a scheduled tribe area and discriminating against the district since all five assembly seats are with the Congress. Mr Harshwardhan Chauhan, MLA, alleges the ruling alliance is misusing the PWD Department. Mr Mohinder Singh, PWD Minister, has extensively toured the district and made announcements in violation of the model code of conduct, he points out. |
September 14, 1999
September
13, 1999
September
12, 1999
September 11, 1999
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| Mr Chauhan says although the hospital here
has been declared a zonal one, the status remains on
paper alone. The strength of the doctors has not been
increased. The health and educational institutions,
particularly in the Shillai, Renuka and Pachhad Assembly
segments, are crying for staff. He claims there is resentment among the people against depriving people of their rights on “shamlaat” land by the BJP government. He points out that out of the total budgetary allocation of Rs 1 crore under the low density roads in the state, Sirmaur district has been sanctioned a paltry Rs 15,000 by the BJP-HVC government. Ms Shyama Sharma, Deputy Chairperson of the state Planning Board and a BJP leader, claims the electorate is disenchanted with the Congress which failed to undertake any development work in the district. She alleges that not a single development project was taken in hand during the Congress regime. Ms Sharma claims the Congress lacks issues and has no policy and programmes. Mr Sadanand, who is
taking care of the HVC campaign, claims the district
witnessed a telephone revolution during the tenure of Mr
Sukh Ram as Communications Minister and is now witnessing
a major drive in development of roads with Mr Mohinder
Singh saddled as PWD Minister. |
Floods, drought ‘no one
cares’ BARH (Bihar): “Hame ya to baadh maar deti hai, ya phir sukhad mar deti hai. Hamari kisi ne bhi sudh nahi lee” (Either “we are killed by the floods or by the drought. No one has bothered about us all these years).” This is how bhumihars or landless sum up the situation in this important Lok Sabha constituency. Mr Nitish Kumar, who quit as Railway Minister following a rail accident in West Bengal is contesting from this constituency. He had won the seat on four occasions earlier. He faces a tough fight from Mr Vijay Kumar, a minister in the Bihar Government. Mr Nitish, despite the domination of his caste votes of Kurmis, had won in 1998 with a slender margin of 15,000 votes. In fact, he had been written off and managed to bounced back from one assembly segment to defeat Mr Laloo Yadav’s nominee. This time Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the party which has an alliance with the Congress and the CPM, is giving him sleepless nights. Mr Nitish Kumar presents a big challenge to the ruling RJD in the state. His supporters consider him as the next Chief Minister, although they know that he contesting for Parliament where too, if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) wins, he is sure to get an important ministry. This is a major favourable factor for him. But here both the RJD ministers and Mr Nitish Kumar find it hard to explain why a major water management project known as the ‘tal joyna’ has not been completed. This Ganges plateau is one of the most fertile area. But either floods wash away the crops or the dry weather makes it impossible to sow anything. It is just one crop in the vast land tract. “Sometime even the seeds are wasted. There is no return. We just depend upon the weather. If it is kind, we have something sustain life, or suffer hunger and deprivation,” sums up Mr Pawan Kumar Singh, a farmer and political activist. Remarkably the level of political consciousness here is very high as there had been numerous agitations to see the tal yojna through. The plan to control floods and use that water during dry weather was chalked out years back. A number of governments changed but very little was done practically. In fact, Mr Nitish Kumar is a product of the agitation for the tal yojna. He once lead and all party committee fighting for the implementation of the project. While Mr Nitish Kumar and his supporters show confidence and assert that he got Rs 65-crore grant sanctioned which the RJD government has not utilised. His commitment to development is total, they claimed. But RJD leaders say only a paltry sum came from the Centre and that has been spent. “It is neither here nor there. An empty promise like the 2,000 mw super thermal plant which would cost Rs 8,000 crore”, asserts Mr Vijay Kumar. One good thing about the campaign is that everyone is talking about development. The fact remains that people’s hunger for development has pushed other issues like caste and communal divisions into the background. Mr Nitish Kumar claims that he not only got the super thermal plant sanctioned, but also three overbridges and 65km-rail track. Sadly the government did not last long to see that these were implemented, he says. Interestingly, no one doubts his intentions. But then people ask where are the projects? In some cases, even the foundation stones are yet to be laid. His detractors say that by joining hands with a “communal” party, he has tarnished the name of Dr Lohia, whose follower he claims to be. But now about Mr Laloo Yadav joining hands with the Congress he has been fighting for such a long period? Someone in the crowd murmurs, “That is the tragedy of the Indian Socialists,”. Except, for leaders, the Kargil conflict or the origin of Ms Sonia Gandhi are not the main issues. It is the daily bread that matters. It is the daily grind of life and justice that people crave for that matters. “For many of the 11
lakh voters spread across six assembly segments, the
deciding issue may be caste, but no one would forget the
bread,” said Mr Ram Mohan Singh, a farmer at
Bakthiarpur. |
It’s ‘battle of
equals’ RAE BARELI: It is a “battle of equals” in this Lok Sabha constituency between a prominent member of the Nehru clan and a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi. While the BJP plumped for Mr Arun Nehru, in political limbo after he parted ways in 1987 with Rajiv Gandhi, to contest this seat, the Congress has fielded former Petroleum Minister Satish Sharma to take him on. The Samajwadi Party’s Gajadhar Singh, who filed his nomination papers on Saturday last, is also considered a serious contender. Political observers here say the main electoral battle will be fought between Mr Nehru, who represented this seat as the Congress nominee in 1984, and Mr Sharma, although both have several factors working against them. Reports here speak of differences within the Sangh Parivar’s local level outfits and the BJP over the candidature of Mr Nehru. Observers say the recent switch-over to the Congress by BJP sitting member Ashok Singh could also adversely affect the party’s poll prospects. Mr Ashok Singh had won this seat from the SP by over 40,000 votes in 1998. Mr Nehru, confident of victory, said here in the midst of campaigning that a split in the SP votes would “substantially raise the BJP tally”. He claimed the Congress “will not be strong enough to win this seat as its nominees had lost their deposits in the past two elections”. The Congress nominee has to contend with being dubbed an “outsider”, having represented the Amethi constituency earlier. Observers also talk about the “weaknesses” of the local Congress organisation which they say had remained “inactive” for quite a long time. However, the recent instances of prominent leaders of the BJP and the Samajwadi Party, including MLAs, joining the Congress have given boost to the sagging morale of party workers, along with the fact that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will be “close by” as she is contesting the neighbouring Amethi seat. Both Mr Nehru and Mr Sharma have been closely associated with Rae Bareli, which was a one-time pocket borough of Indira Gandhi who nursed it into one of the most high-profile constituencies of the country during late 1960s and 1970s. Feroze Gandhi represented Rae Bareli in 1952 and 1957, while Indira Gandhi won from here in 1967, 1971 and 1980. Besides Mr Arun Nehru who won in 1984, Ms Shiela Kaul represented this seat in 1989 and 1991. Rae Bareli saw a non-Congress candidate in 1977 when Raj Narain defeated Indira Gandhi. Later the BJP won from this constituency in 1996 and 1998. Caste and community factors also play a major role in elections here. While Muslims constitute
about 20 per cent of the voters, the Scheduled Castes of
different denominations comprise about 50 per cent,
according to official figures. Rajputs and Brahmins
constitute about ten per cent each. — PTI |
Caste, community count, not
‘itr’ KANNAUJ: Once represented by Socialist patriarch Ram Manohar Lohia, the Kannauj constituency is witnessing a contest between his follower and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BJP-supported Loktantrik Congress Party (LCP) nominee Arvind Pratap Singh. Mr Yadav is likely to sail home smoothly in the September 18 poll, thanks to the backing of large sections of the backward communities, the Scheduled Castes and Muslims who form the majority of the nearly 11.5 lakh electorate. Mr Arvind Pratap Singh, once a close confidant of Mr Yadav, however, is wooing Brahmins apart from his own Thakur community, knowing full well that the BSP’s fielding of Sughar Singh Pal is likely to cut into the former Defence Minister’s votebank among the Pal and Kushwaha communities. In the caste and community dominated electoral battle in this constituency, known the world over for its “itr” (perfume) industry, Mr Yadav’s possible loss with the reported moving away of some Muslim votes to the Congress will be compensated by the support of the backward Lodhs whose leader and BJP’s Farrukhabad MP in the 12th Lok Sabha, Swami Satchidanandji Sakshi Maharaj, has openly supported Mr Yadav after being denied the party ticket this time. The Congress has fielded the “Raja” of the former princely Itawa state, Digvijay Narayan Singh. In 1998 the seat had gone to the SP’s P K Yadav, who trounced the BJP’s C B Singh by nearly 43,000 votes. The authorities, meanwhile, are not taking any chances from the security point of view as Kannauj is nestled between Mr Yadav’s home district, Etawah, in the south and LCP chief Naresh Agarwal’s Hardoi district in the north. Of the 1,444 polling booths in the constituency comprising five assembly segments, 461 have been declared “very sensitive” and 323 “sensitive”. “We are taking no chances and are prepared for anything,” says Returning Officer and District Magistrate Umadhar Dwivedi. Already two battalions of the river police have been requisitioned to patrol the Ganga along the Kannauj-Hardoi border and around 3,000 persons have been forced to sign bonds to prevent any disturbance, says Additional District Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Saxena. The seat, represented in 1984 by the present Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Shiela Dikshit (Cong), and in 1991 by the BJP’s T.N. Chaturvedi, is this time witnessing a 16-cornered contest, a majority of the candidates being inconsequential. “The result is a foregone conclusion. Netaji (Mulayam Singh) will win. The only question is whether the margin will be more than that of Sambhal (Yadav’s other constituency) as he has said he will retain the bigger-margin seat,” says the SP’s national disciplinary committee president and former Indore MP, Mr Kalyan Jain. Both Mr Jain, who has been specially deputed to coordinate the campaigning for Mr Yadav, and BJP district president Keshav Das Tandon claim the fight is between Mr Yadav and Mr Arvind Pratap Singh and that the Congress is going to “lose the deposit.” Mr Jain and party MLA Kailash Rajput from the Umarda assembly segment of the constituency, however, predict an upset victory for the LCP due to a “big erosion and diversion” of Mr Yadav’s votebank. “Muslims are angry with Yadav due to Sakshi Maharaj’s support, because of the latter’s role in the Babri Masjid incident. The Pal and Kushwaha votes will go to the BSP, and at least 20,000 Muslim votes are coming to us,” they claim. But the local intelligentsia say Mr Yadav will easily emerge victorious as his supporters will vote come what may. BJP-LCP supporters, especially well-off Brahmins and Thakurs, are not known to come out in large numbers to exercise their franchise. “And the tradition in Kannauj has been that it has always elected well-known personalities. Yadav is a national leader. Moreover, he is fighting from his mentor Lohia’s karmabhumi,” says local lawyer Sarnam Singh Katiyar. But even then, the SP is
not taking any chances, especially as Mr Yadav has not
been able to concentrate on Kannauj alone. — PTI |
‘Rajkumari’ clashes with ‘Raja’ PRATAPGARH: Members of two former princely estates are pitted against each other. ‘Rajkumari’ Ratna Singh of the Kalakankar estate, the Congress candidate, will be taking on ‘Raja’ Abhay Pratap Singh of the Pratapgarh estate, the BJP nominee. Both have represented this constituency in Parliament once. The two families are old political rivals. Besides, there are Syed Ali of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Mr Ashok Kumar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and 12 Independents. However, the main contest will be between Ms Ratna Singh and Mr Abhay Pratap Singh on September 18. Pratapgarh has traditionally been a Congress stronghold. The constituency has returned the Congress candidates eight times in the 12 elections held so far, the Jan Sangh, the Janata Party, the Janata Dal, and the BJP have won the seat once each. Mr Abhay Pratap Singh was elected from here in 1977, defeating Mr Ratna Singh’s father Mr Raja Dinesh Singh in 1977. In 1991, Mr Dinesh Singh was defeated by Mr Abhay Singh’s father Ajit Pratap Singh. In 1996, Ms Ratna Singh was among the only five Congress candidates in Uttar Pradesh who made it to the Lok Sabha. In 1998, BJP’s Ram Vilas Vedanti wrested the seat. Mr Abhay Pratap Singh had contested the last elections as Samajwadi Party candidate and he along with the BSP candidate had lost his security deposit. He joined the BJP and was given the party ticket. This constituency of eastern UP having 11,88,143 voters has a long tradition of ugly incidents during polling. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the police had registered eight cases, including six against the Congress candidate and one each against senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari and BJP minister Shiv Kant Ojha. Another minister in the present BJP-led government in the state, Mr Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya was kept under house arrest on the polling day. Mr Pramod Tiwari and
Raja Bhaiyya, both of whom belong to Pratapgarh district
and represent the Rampur Khas and Kunda assembly
constituencies of the district, respectively, have pooled
in all their might to ensure success of the Congress and
the BJP candidates in this elections. — UNI |
Campaign reaches crescendo PATNA: Campaigning for the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls in the first phase in Bihar on September 18 reached its crescendo with leaders of two rival formations, the BJP-Janata Dal(U) and the RJD-Congress combines, criss-crossing the south and central Bihar to mobilise support. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, Defence Minister George Fernandes, former Railway Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish Kumar visited several places to canvass for the BJP-JD(U) alliance. The Congress nominees in Bihar breathed a sigh of relief with party chief Sonia Gandhi holding meetings at Ranchi, Jamshedpur. She did not address meetings at Dumka, Giridih and Aurangabad on Monday due to inclement weather. The elections in Bihar seems to be revolving around the personality of the irrepressible former Chief Minister and RJD President Laloo Prasad Yadav, who is facing the most critical electoral battle against a formidable BJP-JD(U) combine which has worked out a sound seat-sharing arrangement this time. The BJP has taken lion’s share of 29 of the 54 seats leaving the remaining 25 for its electoral partner the JD(U) formed after the Samata united with the JD faction of Mr Sharad Yadav. Mr Vajpayee, during his two-day visit to the state which concluded on Sunday, had promised to rid the people of RJD President Laloo Prasad Yadav’s “decade of decay”, highlighted military victory in Kargil, diplomatic triumph over Pakistan, besides pledging to create the Vananchal state. “The RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar symbolises misrule and corruption in a manner that has no precedence in independent India,” Mr Vajpayee said, adding the BJP-JD(U) alliance would be irrevocably committed to “a pro-development corruption-free and responsive administration.” “Law and order has become conspicuous by its absence, Dalits face alarming security problems, the state has become synonymous with frequent massacres of innocent and society stand divided. The most shocking part of the tragedy that has befallen on the state has been done in the name of social justice,” he said. Ms Sonia Gandhi, during her whistle-stop electioneering in south and central Bihar, had charged the BJP-led ministry with failing to keep its promise of carving out a separate state out of Bihar. She alleged that the Vajpayee ministry was a total failure on all fronts and urged people to vote for the Congress for “a strong, stable and efficient” government. Ms Gandhi charged that under the Vajpayee ministry, prices had gone up and the crime had increased. Mr Laloo Yadav, who is on a campaign trail, urged people to forgive him and his other party leaders for any mistakes in the past and vote for the RJD-Congress combine to finish the communal and feudal forces for all times to come. “Sampradayikta desh ke liye bahut bada khatra hai (communalism is a major challenge before the country)... Vote for a secular alliance to form a strong government capable of upholding the country’s unity and integrity,” he told the electorate and alleged that the country’s security is not safe in the hands of Mr Vajpayee and the BJP. Mr Vajpayee, Mr Fernandes and Mr Advani came under heavy attack by RJD supremo who charged the trio with “treason” following the Kargil incursion. Of the 19 constituencies going to polls in the first phase, the RJD is contesting seven seats in alliance with the Congress while it has entered into a “friendly fight” with the latter in Hazaribagh and Godda. The Congress has fielded its candidates in 11 constituencies. The BJP has fielded its candidates in 16 constituencies while its electoral ally, the JD(U), is contesting the remaining three seats. The JMM (Soren) has fielded its candidates in 11 constituencies while the CPI has set up its candidates at three places. Altogether 1.86 crore
voters will cast their ballots at around 30,000 booths
spread over 19 constituencies to decide the fate of 180
candidates. — PTI |
Kamal Nath takes on first-timer CHHINDWARA: Five-time winner and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath is out to prove that the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency still remains his “pocket borough”, despite his shock defeat in a 1997 byelection. The high-profile industrialist-politician had won from this constituency for the first time in 1980 and repeated the feat in 1984, 1989, 1991 and 1998. His main rival this time is the BJP’s Santosh Jain, a corporator, fighting his first Lok Sabha poll. He has not even contested an assembly poll. Interestingly, Chhindwara is witnessing its fourth Lok Sabha poll in as many years since 1996. In the May, 1996, poll, Mr Kamal Nath was denied the Congress ticket on the ground that his name figured in the hawala scam but his wife, Alka, won from there as the party nominee. She, however, resigned in January, 1997, to make way for Mr Kamal Nath but, rather unexpectedly, he lost to senior BJP leader and former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa in the byelection held in February, 1997. But Mr Kamal Nath bounced back in the February, 1998, parliamentary poll when he had sweet revenge on Mr Patwa whom he defeated by a margin of over 1.50 lakh votes. Chhindwara is considered a traditional Congress bastion with the party having won all elections from here since 1952 and its only defeat here was the February, 1997, byelection. The Congress grip over Chhindwara is so strong that the party won from here even during the 1977 anti-emergency wave. Another indicator of the Congress hold over the Chhindwara constituency is that the party won all eight assembly segments under it both in the November, 1993, and November, 1998, elections. There are eight nominees in the fray this time, including five Independents, Mr Santosh Jain of the BJP and Govindi of the Gondwana Ganatantra Party. The main contest is between Mr Kamal Nath and Mr Jain. The dice seems to be loaded heavily in favour of the Congress as Mr Kamal Nath is far better known than the BJP candidate. Mr Kamal Nath seems to be taking it rather easy and even travelling outside Chhindwara to campaign for Congress candidates in other parts of Madhya Pradesh. This is very much unlike the February, 1998, poll when the senior Congress leader spent most of the time campaigning here. Chhindwara was said to be mainly responsible for Mr Kamal Nath’s defeat in the February, 1997, byelection since many BJP workers from Maharashtra came over to the constituency to campaign for Mr Patwa. Its eight assembly segments are Jamai, Chhindwara, Parasia, Chaurai, Amarwada, Pandhurna, Sausar and Damua. There are a total of
10,55,621 voters. — PTI |
Infighting makes it tough for BJP JHANSI: The BJP is facing a tough triangular contest to retain the Jhansi seat. The BJP has been holding this seat since 1989. However, under the changed political conditions, the base of the various parties has shifted and this time BJP nominee and outgoing MP Rajendra Agnihotri is being given a tough fight by the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates. The BJP candidate has also to tackle the resentment of his party workers who think he has not been up to the expectations of the people of this constituency. Party infighting made the task harder for Mr Agnihotri. Campaigning in the constituency has picked up with the tours of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP leader Mayawati. The constituency goes to polls in the first phase on September 18. There are a total of 25 candidates in the fray. Political observers here see no wave in favour of any particular party. The elections, like the previous ones, is going to be dominated by local issues. It seems the days of influencing the voters through speeches, posters, banners and cutouts are gone. The task has become much harder. The Congress has been doing poorly in the previous elections, but this time there is evidence of the party having gained some ground. The party has fielded Mr Sujan Singh Bundela. The Samajwadi Party has once again fielded Mr Hargovind Kushwaha, who has the advantage of having a clean image. The BSP has changed its candidate and has fielded Mr Jaiprakash Sahu. Though the constituency has a substantial population of Sahus, the BSP candidate has been put to some disadvantage as he has been chosen by the party by overlooking senior partymen, which has created resentment in the party. Though caste equations favour the BSP in this constituency, it had not been able to convert it into gain mainly because of its failure to win over the minority vote. The BJP is also facing a tough contest in Jalaun, the other Lok Sabha seat of the Jhansi division. The party has won this seat in the last three elections but this time the Congress has put up a strong challenge. The Samajwadi Party is also facing a very tough situation in this constituency with its votebank, the Muslim voter, seeming to shift to the Congress and the BSP. By and large, the voter
in this constituency also has not shown any enthusiasm
towards the elections. The fate of the candidates would
depend to a large extent on how far they are successful
to mobilise their voters in the remaining one week. |
66 p.c. turnout in repoll NEW DELHI, Sept 14 (PTI) — An estimated 66 per cent voter turnout was reported in repolling in 94 polling booths in six states which passed off peacefully today barring an incident of lathi charge to disperse a group of CPM workers who allegedly threw stones at the police at Payyannor in Kerala and poll boycott in Chengalpattu in Tamil Nadu. Repolling was held in 23 polling booths in Andhra Pradesh, 21 each in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 20 in Rajasthan, six in Kerala and three in Karnataka. The highest polling percentage was recorded in Kerala where repolling was held in six booths of the Kasargode constituency. Two constables were injured when a 300-strong group of CPM workers threw stones at the police who intervened to prevent CPM workers from detaining two Kannur DCC (I) leaders who were on their way to Mahatma Gandhi Cultural Centre at nearby Ramanthali. In Tamil Nadu, an
estimated 60 per cent of the electorate turned up to vote
in repolling held in 21 polling booths spread over the
constituencies of Dindigual, Madras (South), Periyakulam,
Salem, Tiruchengode and Chengalpattu. |
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Maine Dilip Kumar ko phonewa kiya aur kaha yeh Bal Thackeray se daro mat (I telephoned Dilip Kumar and asked him not to be afraid of Bal Thackeray). — Laloo Prasad Yadav addressing Muslims at Bikramganj in Bihar Those levelling baseless charges against Mr Vajpayee are insane and should he sent to an asylum. The Congress, which has joined hands with a man like Laloo Yadav, should not talk of corruption. — George Fernandes on the Congress charge of corruption against the Vajpayee government The RJD-Congress alliance in Bihar symbolises “misrule and corruption in a manner that has no precedence in independent India.” — A.B. Vajpayee
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