Mamata joins Amar in fuelling Jamia doubts

NEW DELHI: The competition to tap into Muslim unease over the Batla House encounter intensified considerably on Friday when SP general secretary A
mar Singh, along with his new-found ally Mamata Banerjeej, stepped up his attack on the police, calling the two terror suspects killed in the shootout `martyrs'.

Singh, who claimed that one of the Delhi blasts suspects killed in the encounter was a `gold medalist', said a probe was needed to establish whether the decorated inspector, Mohan Chand Sharma, who died in the encounter, was killed by bullets fired by his own men.

Addressing a crowd of about 10,000 at Okhla bus stand in Jamia Nagar, close to Batla House, he asked: "Should we believe that someone who always wore a bullet-proof vest while going for an encounter chose to be without the protective gear on that particular day because he wished to commit suicide?'' Singh's party is having to ward off a determined bid by key political foe, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, to poach Muslim vote in UP.

Singh's rhetoric was fully matched by Mamata Banerjee who said she was convinced that the police had staged a fake encounter and that the two terror suspects were targeted because of their faith. Setting a deadline of 72 hours for the government to order a judicial probe, the Trinamool leader made the boastful assertion that she was not known for quitting before accomplishing what she wanted to achieve. "Ratan Tata realised this in Singur,'' she said, claiming that she was committed to protect the interest of farmers and Muslims.

The crowd listened to angry speeches from SP MP Abu Azmi who disagreed with the demand for a judicial probe. "A judicial probe will not bring out the truth. Only an inquiry by a panel which has one-fourth of its members drawn from the minority community will do justice,'' he said.

Another speaker said that Y S Dadwal, police commissioner, and Karnail Singh, head of special cell, were criminals.

The aggressive postures will put the Congress under greater pressure as its rivals like BSP, as well as partners like SP, try to exploit the doubts among Muslims about the encounter to attack its `secular' credentials.

On Thursday, Amar Singh, along with SP boss Mulayam Singh Yadav, had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to ask for a judicial probe.

Source : Times Of India

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Gloomy picture for Cong in NE seats

NEW DELHI: The Congress may view "regularisation'' of unauthorised colonies as a potent poll weapon, but going by an internal survey this is not h
elping it overcome traditional incumbency factors like infighting and non-performance of sitting MLAs in the 10 assembly segments in the north-east parliamentary constituency.

The party's survey on these assembly seats about 500 of the 1,600 colonies to be regularised are in this area indicates that Congress has a fight on its hands and that the regularisation mantra may not be good enough to deliver the boost it seeks.

Ironically, the survey shows that the only seat where the party can hope for a win is Rohtas Nagar, represented by Sheila Dikshit's bete noire, Ram Babu Sharma. Here, incidentally, all four Congress candidates for the MCD pollslast year had bitten the dust. Congress won in all but one of the 10 segments during the last assembly elections.

The only other sitting Congress MLA who seems reasonably popular is S S Bittu who won from Timarpur but here too the party lost in all the MCD wards. The survey notes that Bittu has "fallen out with Jagdish Tytler. He (Tytler) seems to be ensuring he does not get the ticket and could work against him in the eventuality of Bittu contesting.''

In Burari where the constituents are predominantly Poorvanchali, SC and Tyagis, the sitting MLA, Jile Singh Chauhan, is described in the survey as "thoroughly unpopular'' with a mere 17% approval and recommends that the Congress should either get a local Tyagi to contest or take on board Vinod Nagar of the Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan.

In Ghonda, the survey says, sitting MLA Bhisham Sharma of Congress has become "increasingly unpopular'' and there is a risk of the BSP that came second in 2003 making substantial inroads with the help of the Gujjars who form 19% of the constituency's population. The party had won in last year's MCD elections. The survey has given the names of Nathu Singh, a Gujjar, Ramkrishna Sharma, a Brahmin, and Mahendra Jain, ex-MLA from Baghpat, as possible choices for Congress candidature.

In Seelampur there is severe anti-incumbency against sitting MLA Chaudhry Mateen according to the survey and the name of three-time councillor Razia Sultana has been proposed.

According to the survey, the Congress would ensure "definite loss'' if it fields sitting MLA Vinay Sharma from this seat. Sharma has an "approval rating of 11% among Muslims and 19% among Brahmins. The BJP had won in 1993 and 1998 due to division of Muslim votes. Among the three candidates whose names have been proferred in the survey, two are Muslims Tariq Siddiqui and Abdul Aziz Malik. The third possible candidate according to the survey is Deepak Gothi.

In Seemapuri, Congress MLA Veer Singh Dhingan has "anti-incumbency'' working against him but has a fairly decent approval rating of 50% and "may yet win''. The other candidates who the survey says "could be considered'' are Mohini Jeenwal and Kiranvati Tank. In Gokalpur on the other hand the survey clearly says that Baljor Singh of erstwhile Nandnagri should be denied ticket in favour of a "young Valmiki.''

There is more to Congress's woes in the area than this survey. In Karawal Nagar interestingly, where the sitting MLA is Mohan Singh Bisht of the BJP, there is already disgruntlement in the offing with the seat having been promised to Jage Ram Bhati, former state president of BSP who recently returned to Congress. The seat has been split into two during delimitation.

Source : Times Of India

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BJP will 'review' liquor licensing policy

NEW DELHI: It may be election rhetoric but for those fond of their evening tipple, the BJP chief ministerial prospect's claim that the party would
review the Congress government's licensing policy for wine shops could come as a shock.

V K Malhotra, who was speaking out against the opening of a wine shop in a locality in Mount Kailash area, added that the present government's policy of issuing licences would need to be reviewed and corrective action taken once the BJP came to power. The statement came in the wake of the recent opening of a wine shop in the area, which Malhotra claimed posed a serious security threat to the residential locality.

It wasn't just Malhotra questioning the Congress' policies on Friday as fellow BJP leader Dr Harshvardhan also attacked the government for its inability to act on the Afzal Guru matter. Said Harshvardhan, "The government by failing to clear the file on recommendation of the mercy petition of Guru is encouraging terrorism. It is trying to play vote politics by postponing a decision on the issue.''

That the city BJP is planning to tow the national party line by using terrorism as a significant poll plank was also made apparent as the party questioned the Congress on its stand in the Batla House encounter issue. "Why are Congress leaders terming the encounter as fake? It has raised doubts on the martyrdom of M C Sharma, and people are questioning the entire episode, which is only giving shelter to terrorists,'' added Harshvardhan. With the Congress seeming to distance itself from the Jamia Nagar encounter, sources say the BJP feels that its the right time to play up the terrorism angle, even as it attacks the government on its lack of focus on the security issue in the city.

Source : Times Of India

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