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Arjun’s son, daughter denied ticket
All six BSP MLAs join ruling party
UPA unravelling? Pranab calls it misconception |
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Goa Cong ‘exports’ leader to contest on NCP ticket
Mumbai, April 4 The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party have come up with a unique method of sharing the two Lok Sabha seats in Goa among themselves. As per the agreement between the two parties, the Congress conceded the North Goa Lok Sabha seat to its ally.
Turmoil in BJP over Neera Yadav
Maya, Maneka in war of words over Varun
Maya ‘playing’ politics of vendetta
Mamata’s convoy gheraoed
Chiru follows in NTR’s footsteps
Sibal, Ahmed Patel framed me: Kodnani
Cash row: EC notice to Jaswant Singh
TDP chief under EC scanner
‘Bring judiciary under RTI’
Wear high heels to workplace: Police to women
Soumya case: Four sent to custody
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Arjun’s son, daughter denied ticket
Daughter to contest as
Independent The Veteran Congress leader admits that he is disheartened from the turn of events. “If I say I am not unhappy, it will not be true…I cannot deny I am not disappointed that my children have not got ticket. I will campaign for the party but I will not contest,” he said
New Delhi, April 4 The Veteran Congress leader admits that he is disheartened from the turn of events. “If I say I am not unhappy, it will not be true…I cannot deny I am not disappointed that my children have not got tickets,” he said. Singh’s son Ajay Singh and daughter Veena Singh had been in the race for Congress tickets from Satna and Sidhi Lok Sabha seats, respectively. But the party has chosen to give the Sidhi nomination to Indirajeet Patel and Satna to Sudhir Singh Tomar. His daughter Veena has already filed her nomination from Sidhi as an Independent. But even as his daughter turned a Congress rebel, Singh said he would campaign for his party. “I will campaign for the party but I will not contest,” he said, maintaining that allocation of tickets was the prerogative of the party leadership. Attempting to set the record straight as far as his loyalty to the Congress was concerned, he welcomed the decision to field Tomar and urged party workers in Satna to rally around the official candidate. Arjun had been lobbying hard to get the Sidhi nomination for his daughter. Sources say while seeking the ticket for Veena, Arjun even gave references of his age-old loyalty towards the Nehru-Gandhi family. Interestingly, Veena’s candidature was being bitterly opposed by Arjun’s son Ajay, an aspirant for the Satna. But Singh had made it clear from the very beginning before the screening committee that he prefered to see Veena as his successor. But political observers feel that the turn of events clearly meant that Singh’s wishes and recommendations were inconsequential as far as the AICC was concerned. “Clearly, Singh has fallen out with 10 Janpath (in other words party president Sonia Gandhi),” they opine. Those involved in candidate selection defend their decision of ignoring Veena saying that the feedback on her from grassroots was not very positive. There were murmurs that she was novice and did not fit in caste equations. There was also the talk that Arjun and Veena were not in regular touch with Congress workers and leaders. Meanwhile, digressing from the Congress’ official stand, Singh has spoken against the invoking of the NSA against BJP’s Pilibhit candidate Varun Gandhi He said both Varun’s statement and charging him under the NSA was unfortunate. On the post-poll situation, Singh said the Congress should not be averse to taking support of Left parties if the UPA failed to reach the mark in Lok Sabha. He also said under present circumstances, Manmohan Singh becoming the Prime Minister was justified and desirable.
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All six BSP MLAs join ruling party
Jaipur, April 4 “We have joined the Congress to provide a stable government in the state. We had sought votes against the previous BJP regime. Under these circumstances it is our responsibility to lend stability to the Congress government, so we decided to join the party,” said Rajendra Singh Gudha, who headed the BSP legislators in the Assembly. The move has come as a major respite for the ruling party, particularly in view of the pressure being employed by Kirori Lal to extract his pound of flesh in the Lok Sabha polls. His wife Golma Devi had recently resigned from the Congress government, accusing the ruling party of humiliating him. Political observers dubbed her move as a part of Kirori Lal’s “pressure tactics” to get as many Lok Sabha seats as possible for his nominees. However, the BSP MLAs’ decision to switch sides is a major setback for Kirori Lal, as it would certainly take a toll on his bargaining power in run up to the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress was in a tight spot over the two seats - Dausa and Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, which Kirori was desperately seeking. While the party didn’t want to irk its senior leader Namo Narayan Meena who was also eying Dausa, it was keen on giving ticket to a minority community member from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur. It would now be interesting to see as to what would be the next move of Kirori Lal, as he had been stating time and again that his five legislators’ support to the Congress government would continue despite his wife putting in her papers. If he decides to part ways with the Congress a sizable number of Meena votes are certain to drift away from the ruling party.
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Turmoil in BJP over Neera Yadav New Delhi, April 4 Immediately after this function, BJP insiders were sending SMS, whose content read something like this: “Nishikant Dube is party’s candidate from Godda, Sudhanshu Mittal, in charge of north-east, Neera Yadav joins to garner votes for Rajnath in Ghaziabad, while Advani fights against black money and corruption; Bhay Ho.” This was a take off on the Congress slogan ‘Jai Ho’ Since this message mentioned the earlier objection raised by BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley on the induction of Sudhanshu Mittal as an in charge of north-east, and attacked the party leadership for inducting the former chief secretary of UP, dislodged from the position by a court injunction against her, it was assumed that either Jaitley or Advani or both were unhappy with this decision of Rajnath Singh. Neera Yadav had been described as the second most corrupt officer of the state by the UP IAS Association. The next day, however, Jaitley tried to play it down saying publicly that he did not want to comment on individuals. Privately he tried to explain that Neera Yadav had merely accompanied her husband Mahendra Singh Yadav, a two-time BJP MLA from UP, who was rejoining the party after leaving the Samajwadi Party and the media was making a mountain of a mole hill. This was closer to the version of Rajnath camp whose aides also claimed that Neera had simply accompanied her husband and the people garlanded her. But all along, the party remained vague and ambiguous whether Neera Yadav had actually paid the membership fees and become a party member. Today, however, another Advani confidante and his political secretary Sudheendra Kulkarni fired a salvo at Neera Yadav, clearly indicating that the attack on the party leadership over inducting Neera Yadav has the tacit support of Advani. Kulkarni said, “Any person with a proven track record of corruption should not be in the party and added “induction of any tainted person will certainly embarrass the party. Kulkarni also claimed that the party leadership has denied induction of Neera Yadav. But interestingly party spokesman Prakash Javadekar avoided giving a categorical reply when asked specifically whether Neera Yadav had joined the party.
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UPA unravelling? Pranab calls it misconception
New Delhi, April 4 Q. There is a public perception that the UPA is unravelling. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Paswan have gone their own way while Sharad Pawar is consorting with others like the BJD and the Left parties. A. There is a little misconception here. It has been clarified by Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan and the SP leadership at their press conference yesterday. UPA came into existence in 2004 post-elections. It was not in existence before the elections. Even the name was coined after discussions. UPA is not a political party. It is a coalition of political parties for a government at the Centre. Even after its formation, we did not fight elections together except in Jharkhand. In 2004, the Congress had some electoral seat adjustments in some states with some regional parties. This time also, we have the same. We have seat adjustments with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Sharad Pawar’s NCP in Maharashtra and Goa, and with the DMK in Tamil Nadu. Yes, the PMK has left us.... it is true that after the formation of the UPA, some parties joined, some others left. The CPM, which was supporting us from outside, left us. The SP is still continuing with us. Yesterday, Mulayam Singh Yadav said during his press conference that they are part of the UPA. Q. The RJD, LJP and the SP say they are with the UPA, but on the ground, you will be fighting each other. A. Of course, we will be fighting each other at the ground level. We fought each other last time as well. In Kerala, the CPM defeated us in all constituencies, in West Bengal, we defeated them in six constituencies. But still they came and supported us after the elections... so there is nothing new this time. It is true we had alliances with the RJD and the LJP. This time these have not taken… it is unfortunate but it is a fact. Q. Last time, the Congress president took the initiative in forging alliances... it has not been the case this time. A. After the elections... let election take place, after that, we will see. The Congress policy is that it never enters into a coalition at the national level. Show me one election where we have fought general elections with a national level alliance. That’s because there is no other national party, which is spread all over India. There are regional parties and we have seat adjustments with some regional parties. Last time, we had it, this time also we have such alliances. What Lalu and Paswan said yesterday is known to all, they continue to be with the UPA because they have not resigned. You have to make a distinction between a political party and an alliance to form a government. Each political party is fighting elections on the basis of its manifesto and programme. If we combine, then these programmes will have to be modified to convert them into a common agreed programme. Q. Now that you have run a coalition government... wouldn’t it have been better if you could have fought on a common programme. A. It is not possible in a country like India. For instance, what will I do with the RJD in the South or the Tamil parties in Bihar and UP? Q. Who is your main adversary in this election, the BJP or the Third Front? A. Political parties have to face different opponents in different states. We are fighting the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Gujarat, we are fighting against the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh and in Bihar, we are up against Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and the BJP, RJD, the LJP are also there. In West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, we are battling the Left parties. It varies from state to state. Q. Mr Chidambaram said the other day that communal forces are your main enemy and the Left and other regional parties are also fighting communalism. A. It is true. A large number of political parties are against communal forces. Since the BJP indulges in communal politics, those who believe in secularism are also opposed to the BJP. But when you talk of who the main adversary is... then, different parties in different areas are the opponents of the Congress. Q. Elections are gradually becoming regional in nature… they are an aggregation of state elections. A. This is a disturbing trend... when federal elections become an aggregation of state elections or issues. We will have to bring the discourse back to national issues. There has been a distortion. The electorate is the same. Those who cast their vote in panchayat or municipal elections also cast votes in Parliament, but there must be a distinction. Political parties will have to contribute in creating awareness that every election has its own distinction. A federal Parliament deals with national issues. Every authority has its defined area of functioning, panchayats, state assemblies.... if the issues are blurred, then these will not be appreciated properly. This is happening because of the weakness of the Congress and the failure of other political parties to fill that vacuum at the national level. The Congress is replaced by regional parties at the regional level and not any national party. For instance, you see this in UP... the BJP and the Left parties are also regional parties. We are trying to rectify the situation. Q. It is said that coalitions are not good for the country. A. It is not a question of value judgement... that coalitions are good or bad. It is a question of governance, of parties which form the government and the leadership which leads the government. The Congress has provided a stable government for 45 years and now for five years along with other political parties. We are satisfied with our performance. Q. Prakash Karat has said 2004 will not be repeated in 2009 and that the Left will not support a Congress government. A. Nothing is repeated. Every general election varies, its character changes. Regarding Karat’s statement… that is his view, so what.
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Goa Cong ‘exports’ leader to contest on NCP ticket
Mumbai, April 4 Jitendra Deshprabhu, who is the consensus candidate of the two parties, today filed his nomination as a candidate of the NCP. On Thursday, Deshprabhu resigned from the Congress party AFTER the NCP announced his name as its candidate. A staunch Congressman for more than 40 years, Deshprabhu said he was only bowing to the wishes of his partymen. A scion of the feudal family of Pernem, Deshprabhu had till recently been the spokesman of the Congress party. He faces Shripad Naik, the sitting Lok Sabha MP of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a favorite to win this time round as well. While Congress has a strong base in North Goa, the NCP has little support here. The decision taken at the national level by leaders of both parties haven’t gone down with a section of NCP in Goa. NCP president Dr Wilfred D’souza said at least eight local level leaders of his party were overlooked in order to give the ticket to Deshprabhu. “Only winnability is the consideration for the NCP, loyalty is no more important,” D’Souza told reporters today, two days after inducting Deshprabhu into the party. Both the Congress and NCP are part of the coalition government in the state, which also has the regional Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Independents under Chief Minister Digambar Kamat. Justifying his move to the NCP, Deshprabhu said there was actually little difference between both the parties.
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Maya, Maneka in war of words over Varun
Lucknow, April 4 BSP supremo Mayawati today claimed to empathise with the pain of millions of mothers across the country. She was reacting to Maneka’s statement that Mayawati was not capable of understanding “ma ka dard”. Maneka had said this when the Etah DM had refused her permission to meet Varun in the violation of the jail manual. “It is not necessary to be a mother to understand a mother’s pain. In her desperation for her son probably Maneka has forgotten that Mother Teresa was not a mother but she bestowed her love on the people of the entire world,” pointed out Mayawati. “If Maneka had given good values to her son Varun than he would perhaps not been behind the bars today”, she said. In a frontal attack on Varun’s mother, Mayawati pointed out that the BJP, a party to which she belongs, had an unmarried prime minister in Atal Behari Vajpayee. “Working under him did she detect any shortcoming in him (for not being married)?” she asked.
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Maya ‘playing’ politics of vendetta
Lucknow, April 4 Speaking to the media he said, “Invoking of the NSA and booking Varun Gandhi for attempt to murder is disproportionate to the alleged crime committed by him. If every chief minister similarly charge his or her political rivals under the NSA at elections time, then imagine what would happen to the democratic structure.” Reacting to Mayawati’s statement in which she had asked Varun’s mother Maneka Gandhi to apologise, Jaitley said, “Why should Maneka Gandhi apologise? The matter is now in people’s court and their verdict will speak for itself.” According to Jaitley, the BJP was set to emerge as a front-runner in the state. Despite losing allies in Orissa, the NDA had gained new partners in Assam, Haryana and western UP, he pointed out. Describing the Congress as having “neither the will nor the inclination to present itself as a political alternative” Jaitley said all Congress wanted was to keep the SP and the BSP in good humour and use of the CBI was as a tool to keep them in control.
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Mamata’s convoy gheraoed
Kolkata, April 4 According to reports, Mamata was attacked by a group of CPM workers and supporters at Mejhia while she was on way to Bishnupur town after attending a workers meeting at Asansol in the afternoon. “Around 200 lathi-wielding CPM supporters banged on her car and shouted anti-Mamata slogans with the police remaining a silent spectator,” Trinamool Congress General Secretary Mukul Roy alleged.
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Chiru follows in NTR’s footsteps
Hyderabad, April 4 Since then, it was a matter of sentiment for NTR to launch his subsequent poll campaigns and important programmes from
Tirupati, the abode of Lord Venkateswara. The tradition is being continued by his political successor and son-in-law N Chandrababu
Naidu. Looking to repeat the magic, megastar Chiranjeevi has chosen the temple town to make his electoral debut. Amid much fanfare, the actor filed his nomination papers for Tiupati Assembly constituency today. Arriving at the pilgrim town by a special helicopter from his native district of West
Godavari, Chiranjeevi drove straight to the election office and filed his papers to the Returning Officer. Earlier, his actor-son Ramcharan Teja had offered prayers at
Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, placed the set of nomination papers at the feet of the Lord and sought the
blessings. Chiranjeevi, whose fledgling Praja Rajyam Party is facing the elections on the twin planks of “Change and Social Justice”, is also contesting from Palakollu in his native district. By choosing
Tirupati, he will be looking to repeat the magic of late NTR who contested from the temple town after launching Telugu Desam Party in 1982 from the temple town.
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Sibal, Ahmed Patel framed me: Kodnani Ahmedabad, April 4 “We have been falsely implicated by Kapil Sibal and Ahmed Patel,” she told reporters after being sent to 24-hour judicial custody by a city metropolitan court. The judge asked the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to bring Kodnani to court again on Sunday to continue the hearing after carrying out further questioning in the Naroda Patia riots case. The court also ordered that Jaideep Patel be sent to the Sabarmati jail as the investigations into the case of the Naroda Gam riots case in which he had been named as an accused had been completed by the SIT. After coming out of the courtroom, Patel said he had urged the court to provide him police protection inside the Sabarmati jail since the prison had witnessed some violence among the inmates lately. “The court has agreed to provide protection to me as per the jail manual,” he added. The riots in Naroda Gam and Naroda Patia localities of Ahmedabad followed the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express at the Godhra Railway station, which resulted in the death of 59 passengers on February 26, 2002. — IANS
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Cash row: EC notice to Jaswant Singh
Jaipur, April 4 The EC had sought a report from the Chief Electoral Officer after Jaswant Singh was caught on camera allegedly distributing cash to the voters during a rally at Gagaria village in Barmer on March 31. He reportedly handed over Rs 10,000 cash to a woman suffering from leprosy, besides promising the people present there all help in getting tube-wells installed. He also purportedly distributed food packets among those who attended the rally. In his preliminary report to the EC, Barmer District Magistrate Ravi Jain had charged the BJP leader with distributing cash, promising tube-wells and distributing food packets. A day later, an unapologetic Jaswant Singh had said helping the poor under the Congress rule in Rajasthan is a crime. He had also contended that he was not a candidate and that he was merely helping the needy. However, all his arguments don’t seem to have cut much ice with the Election Commission, which has now asked him as to why action should not be initiated against him for violating the code. Though actor-turned-politician Govinda was also caught in a similar row around Holi, what seem to have gone against Jaswant Singh is the fact that he distributed money in an election rally while campaigning for his son in
Barmer.
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TDP chief under EC scanner
Hyderabad, April 4 Following a complaint filed by senior Congress leader and Finance Minister K Rosaiah, the state Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao examined the video-clippings of the press conference addressed by the opposition leader. “We will soon take a decision on the action to be taken after going into the complaint thoroughly,” the CEO said. In his complaint, Rosaiah said the TDP Chief’s promise, along with a request to reporters to “write well” about the party manifesto was a clear violation of model code. He contended that the promise amounted to offering bribery seeking a favour from journalists. The minister demanded stringent action against Naidu for his “unethical approach” which would tamper the fairness of the elections. The CEO said the poll panel would have no objection if the promise of house sites was mentioned in the party’s manifesto but action might be taken if it was found that the promise was made outside the purview of the manifesto.
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‘Bring judiciary under RTI’
Guwahati, April 4 “Judicial process enforces transparency and accountability of the other public authorities. There is no reason why the same yardstick should not apply to the judiciary,” he commented while lauding Indian Judiciary by and large for being able to protect the people’s rights and stonewall miscarriage of justice by different authorities and constitutional institutions. Speaking at the valedictory function of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Gauhati High Court here, Justice Verma said an independent and credible judiciary held the key to good governance. He stated that there was a section in the higher judiciary that has been resisting attempts to introduce even in-house regulations to inquire into allegations of misconduct or misbehaviour of any judge. “Judiciary must give up this unreasonable position and open up to public scrutiny to remove any doubts about the institution,” he added. Attributing the growing propensity to resorting extra-legal measures to the failure of the judiciary to ensure justice to its citizen, the former Chief Justice cited several glaring examples such as, lynching of accused in court premises, fake encounters by law enforcement agencies on the pretext of criminals not being punished, at least promptly, through the judicial process.
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Wear high heels to workplace: Police to women
New Delhi, April 4 These self-defence tips are being sent to firms, especially those like media houses and BPO companies that have a large number of women working till late at night. Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast Delhi) Shalini Singh recently made a presentation on security of employees at the Gurgaon office of leading IT solution company Wipro. The meeting was also attended by representatives of 10 other BPO companies. “I advised women to use their clothes, hand bags and perfume as a weapon of self-defence. They can use their high heels to put their foot down, spray perfume in the eyes of criminals and strike them hard with their bags,” Singh told. “Woman can also hit below the belt in case of trouble. All these measures will help women buy some time and flee from the spot,” she added. Singh also handed women employees small tips like keeping emergency number 100 on their speed dial list and not to speak on the phone while walking on the road. Women should also stand with their backs to the wall, so that they can keep a tab on their surroundings, she said. “They can also inform their family or friends before starting for home from their offices. These are little things which one tends to ignore in day-to-day life but can really help in the long run,” she said. She also suggested women should not carry large amounts of cash with them. The police reaction comes in the wake of the robbery and murder of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh last month. Jigisha was talking over her mobile and walking towards her home in the early hours of March 21 after being dropped by the cab of her office Hewitt Associates at the gate of the Vasant Vihar apartment complex where she lived. She was spotted by some criminals, who kidnapped, robbed and later killed her. Her body was found in Faridabad, Haryana, about 20 km from her home.
— IANS
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Soumya case: Four sent to custody
New Delhi, April 4 Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kiran Bansal remanded accused Ravi Kapoor, Amit Kumar Shukla and Baljit Malik to five days' police custody, while fourth accused Ajay has been sent to three days' custody.
— PTI
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Goa ‘bans’ Sri Ram Sene Cellphone towers blown up GM seeds trial stopped Scribes on ULFA target radar LTTE cadre held in Chennai Boat capsizes Obscenity
case against Akshay, Twinkle Amar Singh's brother
joins BJP Sene not to support BJP Source: Agencies
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Union Human Resource Minister Arjun Singh is upset and not without a reason. His daughter Veena Singh and son Ajay Singh have been denied tickets by the Congress to contest Lok Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh. However, the party’s old warhorse is clear that despite this “disappointment” he will still campaign for the Congress.
New Delhi, April 4
