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BJP draws up battle plan for Advani in Gandhinagar
Third angle
Chavan talks sweet after numbers game angers Muslims in M’rashtra
Two-party trend has come to stay in HP
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Chhattisgarh:11 seats,178 in fray
Jammu & Kashmir
Kerala
Polling: Apr 16
Border belt cries for care
HSGPC undecided over support
They won’t leave anything to chance
Cong gives giant-killer’s job to Suresh Patel
Musical move
Jaya patches up with MDMK
Rane drums up support for son Nilesh
Trinamool opposes separate Gorkhaland
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BJP draws up battle plan for Advani in Gandhinagar
Ahmedabad, April 3 “We have chalked out a detailed campaign plan for Advani, who is a four-time MP from the Gandhinagar constituency and will be fighting the elections for the fifth time, as delimitation has changed the geographical area” a BJP leader said. Responsibilities have been given to senior leaders to look after the constituency as Advani is busy campaigning throughout the country for the party, he said. "We have had meetings with party workers and drawn up a plan for campaigning in Advani's constituency," in charge of the constituency and senior BJP leader Surendra Patel said. "We have opened a central election office of Advani and offices at Assembly segment levels will be opened soon. We will soon start campaigning for him in a big way. All the signals are positive," he said. The state unit of the party has already carried out a massive survey of the delimited constituency of Advani to ensure that he wins the seat. Advani has remained undefeated from the Gandhinagar seat four times when he contested in 1991, 1998, 1999
and 2004. Certain Assembly segments from Advani's constituency which have a large BJP following like Ellisbridge and Gandhingar South (Gandhinagar was one Assembly segment before delimitation but now it has been divided into two Assembly seats) have been excluded. Two new Assembly segements of Sanad and Kalol have been included in the geographical area of the seat after delimitation. "In the December 2007 Assembly elections, we had lost in just the Kalol Assembly segment which comes in the delimited Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency," another BJP leader said. "We had won all other Assembly seats. This only shows that this is one of the safest seats for Advani," he claimed. The constituency will have more than 1,600 booths. There will be a triangular contest in the Gandhinagar seat this time as the Congress has fielded Kalol MLA Suresh Patel and danseuse Mallika Sarabhai is also in the fray as an Independent candidate. Meanwhile, nine sitting MLAs, six from the Congress, two from the BJP and one from the JDU, are contesting the Lok Sabha poll in the state.The sitting MLAs who are in the fray are from the Banaskanta, Patan, Gandhinagar, Porbandar, Ahmedabad West, Rajkot, Kheda and Bharuch parliamentary constituencies.
— PTI
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Chavan talks sweet after numbers game angers Muslims in M’rashtra
Mumbai, April 3 Last weekend, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance in Maharashtra was in a turmoil after representatives of all major Muslim sects adopted a resolution to boycott the UPA's candidates in the state. The resolution was adopted by representatives of the Deobandis, Barelvis and Ahl-e-Hadees who were demanding that the alliance field at least five candidates of the community. "We felt that Muslims account for more than 12 per cent of the state's population and, therefore, needed to have at least five candidates," Maulana Athar Ali of the All- India Ulema Association said. Accordingto Ali, more
than 50 ulema representing all major Sunni mosques in Mumbai were present at the
meeting. According to the ulema, the Congress-NCP has fielded just one candidate, AR Antulay, who is not keen on contesting the elections due to his age. The body also adopted a resolution to vote for Abu Azim Azmi of the Samajwadi Party and Mohammad Ali Shaikh of the Bahujan Samaj Party who were contesting from Mumbai-North West andMumbai-South, respectively. The meeting also hit out at the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra saying Muslims were being manipulated with the bogey of the Shiv Sena-BJP coming to power in the state. Following the resolution, Chavan called a meeting of the ulema and promised to provide them adequate representation in the Assembly elections.Under a
compromise formula prepared by the Congress and theNCP, the latter would field a Muslim
candidate in the Lok Sabha elections. Chavan also appointed party MLC Muzaffar Hussain a
coordinator between the Congress and the ulema to look into issues pertaining to Muslims. The CM’s promise to look into the grievances of the community seems to have worked, at least for the time being. "We have called off our opposition to the Congress and the NCP," Ali said yesterday. He added that the ulema would support candidates of the UPA to defeat communal forces.
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Two-party trend has come to stay in HP
The hill state has indeed come a long way from the 1952 poll when there were only two seats, including a double-member constituency. The geographical complexion of the constituencies underwent frequent change in the first two decades during which the state remained an impregnable bastion of the Congress. The number of constituencies was raised to three in 1957, four in 1962 and six in 1967 after the merger of hilly areas of Punjab in Himachal Pradesh. The delimitation exercise carried out subsequently saw the number of constituencies reduced to four again. The Congress made a clean sweep of all seats in every Lok Sabha poll up to 1971. It was only the Janata wave which routed the firmly entrenched party during the 1977 general election held under the shadow of the Emergency. In fact, there was no organised opposition to pose a serious challenge to the Congress until then, though a large number of Independents got elected to the state Assembly. It was only after the merger of the hilly areas of Punjab in 1966 that the Jan Sangh, the earlier incarnation of the BJP, appeared on the scene. The Congress citadel was finally demolished in 1977. The end of Congress domination led to the emergence of a two-party system as the Janata Party and the Congress polled 57.19 and 38.38 per cent of the votes, respectively, and the CPM and the CPI together secured only about 2 per cent votes. The Congress returned with a vengeance in the 1980 Lok Sabha poll, winning all four seats with 52.88 per cent votes as against 36.38 per cent polled by the Janata Party. With the disintegration of the Janata Party the BJP emerged as the main opposition in the state. In the 1982 Assembly poll it won 29 seats with 35.15 per cent votes, while the Congress only got 31 seats despite a vote share of 42.52 per cent and failed to get a clear majority. The CPI, the CPM and other parties accounted for 8 per cent of the votes. Riding the sympathy wave in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the Congress swept the 1984 Lok Sabha elections winning all four seats with a record 67.58 per cent votes. The BJP’s vote share declined to 23.27 per cent. The BJP wrested three of the four seats in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections and it polled a higher percentage of votes than the Congress for the first time in the state. The two parties shared the seats equally in the 1991 mid-term poll. The Congress recovered the lost ground and won all four Lok Sabha seats in the 1996 elections. The emergence of the Himachal Vikas Congress, a breakaway faction of the Congress floated by former Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, added a new dimension to the political scene in 1998. Sukh Ram helped the BJP win the Mandi seat to take its tally to three and the Congress had to be content with just the Shimla seat. The 1999 snap poll in the wake of the Kargil conflict saw the BJP-HVC combine make a clean sweep of all seats. It was only for the second time in the electoral history of the state that the Congress failed to win a single seat. There was a reversal of fortunes in the 2004 elections as the Congress bounced back to winning three seats, while BJP managed to retain the Hamirpur seat with a slender margin. The stage is set for virtually a straight contest between the two main political contenders, though the BSP has decided to field candidates for all four seats and the CPM for the Mandi seat.
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Chhattisgarh:11 seats,178 in fray
Raipur, April 3 Raipur will see the most number of candidates — 32. The state's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the seat in the last five elections. The least number of candidates —seven — are being fielded from the Maoist insurgency-hit Bastar constituency, where the BJP is eager to pull off victory for the fourth time in a row. Though the main contest in the state will be between the two major national parties --- the BJP and the Congress — the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded candidates on all 11 seats. All eyes are on the Bilaspur and Korba seats where senior leaders of the Congress and the BJP are being fielded. The BJP has fielded its flamboyant leader and former Union Minister Dilip Singh Judeo from Bilaspur to take on Renu Jogi, wife of Congress leader and the state's first Chief Minister Ajit Jogi. In Korba, BJP national vice-president Karuna Shukla, also the niece of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will fight old rival Charandas Mahant of the Congress. The BJP had won 10 seats in the 2004 poll, leaving the Congress with only the Mahasamund seat that this time will see a battle between two OBC leaders —Motilal Sahu of the Congress and Chandulal Sahu of the BJP. The state has a total electorate of 15.4 million, including 7.6 million women voters. About 50 per cent of the voters are from OBC categories. The delimitation exercise has increased from five to six the number of general (unreserved) seats in the state, which goes to the polls on April 16. Seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes have been reduced to one from two. The state also has four seats reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates.
— IANS
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Jammu & Kashmir
Bhamala (Reasi), April 3 Being the last point of the Udhampur-Doda parliament constituency some portions of this belt are included in the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat therefore Lok Sabha members from both the seats usually pass the buck for not undertaking development in this area. Besides this town, adjoining villages are also ignored by both the MPs due to topographical disadvantage of the area. “Ironically, even some contesting candidates are not aware about the areas falling under their Lok Sabha segment,” Sham Lal, a shopkeeper of Bhamala, told The Tribune. “Two days ago, a candidate contesting elections from the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat convened a meeting here to garner support despite the fact that this area does not fall under that constituency,” he said, adding that the candidate was shocked when he was informed that Bhamala was a part of the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat. Due to topographical disadvantage, this belt is ignored not only by Lok Sabha members, but also by the MLAs. Raman Sharma, an unemployed youth of Laither village, said due to the apathy of Lok Sabha members they had been deprived of many centrally sponsored schemes. “Even after 61 years of independence, inhabitants of this belt are struggling to get drinking water,” he said, adding that to quench their thirst people have to drink unhygienic water. Villages, namely Sabini, Dugi, Dadhua, Dhab Khalsa, Ghai-Gondher and Kandi belt of Kalidhar, are glaring examples of the apathy of the authorities. “None of the representative take the responsibility of solving the problems of inhabitants of these areas as these villages border Udhampur and Jammu Lok Sabha seats,” Shamsher Singh, a resident of Dungi village said. Noor Mohammad, a resident of Laither village, said despite repeated representations to the authorities, high school of the village had not been upgraded yet. Students have to cover a distance of 25 km to reach Pouni for higher education, he added. Three years ago, the government had decided to bring this area under a tourist circuit but the promise remained only on papers due to the “casual approach” of the elected representatives. “Neither MP from Jammu-Poonch, nor Lok Sabha member from Udhampur-Doda had shown interest in the development of the area, therefore the scheme is not yet implemented,” a local shopkeeper said.
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Campaign hots up
The stakes are high for the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) as it currently holds 19 of the 20 seats. The 2004 verdict brought gloom to the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). But now the front is smiling as it believes it has nothing to lose and everything to gain. The UDF believes it has the edge as the LDF battles strong anti-incumbency. CPM Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan completes three years in office this May. Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy told IANS that anti-incumbency is strong even in north Kerala, considered a stronghold of the LDF. "Things are totally different from what we expected. There is a strong anti-government feeling. You wait and see. We are going to do extremely well," said Chandy. The UDF also hopes to benefit from the new-found warmth between the LDF and People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Abdul Nasir Maudany. Maudany, since his acquittal in 2007 in the 1998 Coimbatore bomb blasts case, has been a strong supporter of the CPM. "The Maudany issue is going to cost the CPM dear. Are you not reading the newspapers? Every day some new allegations against Maudany are surfacing. And they (CPM) are already feeling the heat," Another scam that is hogging the headlines in the state is the SNC Lavalin case, in which CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan is an accused. He is charged with wrongly awarding a contract to a Canadian company for the renovation of two hydro-power projects when he was Power Minister 12 years ago. But Vijayan remains unperturbed and says he is confident that people will back him and his party. "The people of Kerala know about the Lavalin case and this is not going to influence them," says Vijayan. On ties with Maudany, Vijayan said: "It was Maudany who came forward with his party's support for us. Don't forget when he was in jail, it was the UDF which asked for his party's support." The PDP had supported the UDF in the 2001 state Assembly poll. At that time Maudany was lodged in jail in Coimbatore for alleged terror links. The campaign at several places has become intense and skirmishes between workers of major parties have been reported. The campaign is expected to peak with the arrival of leaders like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi who are expected to address 15 public meetings in the state.The Left is also bringing in its national leaders like CPM general secretary Prakash Karat and the Communist Party of India's AB Bardhan. Chandy admitted that one lacuna in his party is that, unlike the Left cadres, his party workers are yet to get fully involved in the campaign. "Yes, our cadres are always late off the block when it comes to the campaign. But the arrival of national leaders will enthuse the party workers during the final thrust," he said. — IANS
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Border belt cries for care
Sunderbani (Rajouri), April 3 Realising that politicians use emotive issues just for their petty benefits, people in this border township and its adjoining areas like Kalakote and Nowshera have now decided to vote for only those candidates who will give priority to development. Notably, in the Assembly poll, BJP and PDP were the main beneficiaries, especially in the Jammu and Kashmir provinces due to the controversial issue. Even as the previous Congress-led coalition government announced colleges across the state, residents here say their area was completely ignored. District status for Sunderbani is another important issue in this border belt, which has also been repeatedly demanding a trauma hospital. “Our area is quite backward. We needed a degree college at Sunderbani, but the previous government announced the facility at Nowshera which is more than 70 kms from here. Also, eight new districts were carved out, but our area was again kept out of the loop,” says Sham Lal Sharma, a resident of Devak and a farmer. Another resident Chander Mohan Sharma said their area was highly accident prone and there was an immediate need for setting up of a trauma hospital. “Since independence we have not seen much development in our area. We will vote for a candidate who takes care of our needs,” says the man, who is also a social worker.
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HSGPC undecided over support
Karnal, April 3 Jagdish Singh Jhinda faction of the HSGPC had already announced to hold a Sikh sangat on the issue, while the Nalvi faction has convened a meeting of the state executive at Kurukshetra next week to deliberate on the issue. General secretary of the rival faction Didar Singh Nalvi who was here to discuss the issue with Sikh leaders said Sikh intellectuals would also be invited to the meeting to take a final decision extending support in the Lok Sabha polls. Critical of the state government for not fulfilling the poll promise to create a separate SGPC for the state, Nalvi said after Punjab, Haryana has highest number of Sikhs votes (about 19 lakh) and support of Sikhs is crucial for any party in four parliamentary constituencies of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Ambala and Sirsa and 33 Assembly constituencies. “We are in no hurry to take a decision and it is for the political parties to come to us for seeking support and react to our demands,” Nalvi said adding that besides separate SGPC, the Sikhs want second language status for Punjabi language, setting up of minority commission and end to discrimination in jobs and representation in various bodies to Sikhs and the party favourably reacting to our demands would be given support, he maintained. He claimed that there were around 3.50 lakh Sikh votes in Sirsa, 2.50 lakh votes each in Ambala and Kurukshetra and 1.5 lakh votes in the Karnal seats and efforts would be made to ensure that these votes were not split. He criticised Jagdish Singh Jhinda, head of the other faction of HSGPC, for playing politics in the name of Sikhs and not making concerted efforts to press the state government to implement the poll promise to set up separate SGPC for the state.
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They won’t leave anything to chance
Ludhiana, April 3 Says Rachna Sharma, a leading astrologer of the city: “In the past few days, I have scanned horoscopes of at least a dozen politicians from all over the state.” Normally, they come on their own, but also send their wives, relatives or friends to seek opinion, she adds. “The queries are related to the time of filing the nominations, the colour of clothes and turbans, dates, number of vehicles, even the colour of vehicle,” quips the astrologer. Gurcharan Singh Galib, SAD-BJP candidate from Ludhiana, said he was a God-fearing man. Though he’s not much into the astrological calculations, he believes in Guru Sahiban and Baba Nand Singh of Nanaksar Sahib. “I do whatever Babaji says. Whatever position I have attained in life is due to him. However, there are few who don’t believe in star positions. “If you surrender to the fate, you tend to become a fatalist, which is against natural law of existence,” says Congress contestant Manish
Tewari.
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Cong gives giant-killer’s job to Suresh Patel
Gandhinagar, April 3 It was not an easy decision."It took the party some time to decide on the candidate for the Gandhinagar seat. We now have found the right candidate in Suresh Patel, who is well known in the Kalol and Gandhinagar belt," Leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly and Congress leader Shatisinh Gohil told IANS. It took the Congress poll thinktank in New Delhi two weeks of discussions before deciding on the Kalol legislator. According to a senior leader, Patel had been in contact with voters in the Kalol and Gandhinagar belt for five years. He had first won as legislator from the Kalol seat in 1998 but lost it in the 2002 Assembly poll. In 2007, Patel won back the Kalol seat after a gap of five years during which he had kept his public contact programmes going. Congress leaders also point out that 35 per cent of the overall voting strength in the Gandhinagar constituency comprises the influential Patel community, mostly involved in farming and land dealing businesses. They are hoping that Advani's long absence from the constituency during the past five years would
work in the Congress' favour. — IANS
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Musical move
Guwahati, April 3 The campaign song, which has been recorded by a professional group here in “Jai Ho” tune of Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, is in four principal languages that are spoken by a large section of voters in the state which has 14 parliamentary constituencies. The languages used in the song are Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and Sadri, a dialect of tea tribes, a traditional bastion of Congress. The song calls upon the voters to hold ‘the Hand’ during the poll to expedite the development process on the roll besides ushering in an era of peace to the troubled state through over all development. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chairman Bhubaneswar Kalita today launched the musical campaign at a function in the state party headquarters. Meanwhile, BJP is gearing up to counter the Congress’ musical move.
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Jaya patches up with MDMK
Chennai, April 3 Vaiko, who kept mum till yesterday, when reporters repeatedly queried him about his party’s relations with the AIADMK, today broke his silence and said there was no problem in seat sharing talks with the AIADMK. He said the seat-sharing talks were continuing smoothly and a good solution would be found soon. Even while, CPM state secretary N Varadarajan denied problems in seat sharing, the MDMK leader, who commands a uniform vote share of six per cent throughout the state, did not come out with any clarification or
explanation. Observers feel that an alert Jayalalithaa had shown political astuteness and had pacified the MDMK, preventing the party from switching over to the BJP front. The problems with the CPM too had been sorted out and a possible break in the AIADMK alliance had been averted by the AIADMK leader. The number of seats to be contested by the MDMK and CPM will be announced soon.
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Rane drums up support for son Nilesh
Chiplun, April 3 “The (poll) war is on and we have to fight until we get victory. So get united to bring victory for Nilesh Rane,” he said, while addressing a meeting of activists of the three parties here. The Congress, RPI and NCP are fighting the elections in the state as an alliance. Earlier in the day, Rane called a meeting of the alliance’s activists here. Local NCP members had asked Nilesh to end the tie-up with Sena in the council or face non-cooperation during the elections. Rane had called the meeting in this backdrop. During his speech, Rane also criticised Suresh Prabhu, the Sena nominee from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.
— PTI
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Trinamool opposes separate Gorkhaland
Kolkata, April 3 She also stated that said the TMC would launch a campaign along with the Congress for Dawa Norbula, sitting Congress MP from Darjeeling. Mamata said the hill people had some grievances which needed redressal. She alleged that in the past over three decades, the state government had neglected the basic needs of the hill people. |
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Identity crisis
A Goa minister ended up embarrassing the ruling Congress when he introduced a man as the political advisor to party president Sonia Gandhi. The person turned out to be an imposter. Public Works Department Minister Churchill
Alemao, whose daughter Valanka has been denied a ticket for south Goa, introduced a man called NK Sharma at a public rally saying that he was close to Gandhi. The latter said Valanka was still in the nominations’ race. But later, the state unit declared Sharma as an “imposter”. Alemao has embarrassed Gandhi in the past too. In 1999, he had called her the “pallbearer” of democracy, but later apologised for the error saying he had actually meant to say “torchbearer” of the democracy. So far, no apology has come, but a party inquiry has been started into the matter.
Net gain
With more than 25,000 hits everyday, the website of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate LK Advani is one of the most frequently visited sites, claim party leaders. It was launched last year with the aim of reaching out to the youth ahead of the elections. “The website has proven to be very successful for netizens to interact with Advaniji. Thousands of posts, discussion forums and huge number of volunteers joining his campaign is a proof of that,” claimed a BJP leader. Now whether the website’s success will translate into a similar number of votes remains to be seen, says a Congress leader. Losers’ game
Come what may, one loser may win this time from Kerala’s Wayanad constituency. For the three leading candidates here are regular losers. Among them is MI Shahnawaz of the Congress, who has lost five elections in the past. His last defeat came in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. The others are M Rehamtullah of the Communist Party of India and K
Muraleedharan, state president of the Nationalist Congress Party and son of Congress veteran K
Karunakaran. Of the three, only Muraleedharan has actually won an election - 1999 Lok Sabha elections from Kozhikode - in the recent past. Kerala Congress legislator PC George said: “One of the three can set the record straight from being routine losers.” Source: IANS
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Voter fury
Muzaffarnagar: Angry villagers of Mollaheri have decided to boycott the Lok Sabha polls until their demand for a bridge over Kali river is met. The villagers have approached the district headquarters today to press for their demand. Talking to reporters, village head Jogender Singh said that the villagers had earlier boycotted the 2007 UP assembly elections.
— PTI Nagaland seat Kohima:
Three candidates are in fray for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland after the last date of withdrawal of nomination on Thursday, official sources said. Former Lok Sabha MP Asungba Santum of Congress, Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF) candidate CM Chang and Rilanthung Odyeo contesting on a Trinamool Congress ticket are contesting for the seat which is going to polls on April 16.
— PTI NGOs’ party Lucknow:
Lok Rajniti Manch, an outfit floated by social activists, including Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey, is all set to contest in nearly a dozen seats in Uttar Pradesh. “The party is a conglomerate of several voluntary bodies and has been established with an aim to bring in change in the existing political system,” said Pandey.
—
PTI
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Voter’s guide
A person is a member of the Scheduled Castes in a particular state. Can he contest the LS poll from any other state from a seat reserved for the
SCs?
Yes Is the wearing of special accessories like cap, mask, scarf, etc, permitted during campaigning? Yes. However, the supply and distribution of the main apparel like sari, shirt, etc, by a party/candidate is not allowed as it may amount to bribing voters
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Pollspeak
Kalyan Singh had said he wanted to damage the BJP. He had also accepted and regretted the demolition of Babri Masjid in his regime. His son is in the SP and is actively campaigning with Akhilesh Yadav (Mulayam’s son)
— SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav I will not ride Tata’s Nano car because it has been manufactured with the people’s blood — Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee
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Noted danseuse Mallika Sarabhai has filed her nomination for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial nominee LK Advani. Sarabhai said she was contesting the polls to give democracy back to the people of Gujarat. “I am here on the plea of the people of the state to contest the polls,” said the danseuse.
— IANS
Shimla, April 3
Thiruvananthapuram, April 3
