Slapping of NSA on Varun 'wrong': Mulayam

LUCKNOW: Terming the invoking of the NSA against Varun Gandhi as "wrong", Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday alleged that the
stringent Act has been used to settle political scores.

"The framing of charges under NSA against Varun Gandhi is completely wrong. In fact, National Security Act has always been used to settle political scores... why did the police fail to arrest Varun and his supporters before the roadshow," Yadav told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

He alleged that the move to frame charges under NSA against Varun, the BJP candidate from Pilibhit, was "a tactic by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party to generate sympathy towards Varun Gandhi".

"If the BJP-BSP are not having any sort of tacit understanding, then why was Varun not arrested before the roadshow," said Yadav.

Lashing out at the state government, Mulayam alleged, "In the Auraiya PWD engineer murder case, a SP worker Kamlesh Pathak was framed under NSA, while the accused roamed free. It is due to these reasons that I oppose the NSA since it was implemented."

Asked if any other candidate will be fielded in case the court disallows actor Sanjay Dutt to contest from Lucknow Lok Sabha seat, Mulayam said, "This is completely a hypothetical question."

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Neera, husband join BJP

LUCKNOW: Two trusted members of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's coterie - former chief secretary Neera Yadav and her husband Mahendra Singh
Yadav -left him for the saffron camp on Sunday. The high-profile couple was inducted into the BJP by party president Rajnath Singh amid fanfare in Ghaziabad.

The development is being interpreted as a shrewd move by the master strategist Rajnath Singh to improve his party's poll prospects. Mahendra Singh, a former minister and MLA from neighbouring Bulandshehar, can help the vote tally with his influence among the about 50,000 Yadav voters in his constituency. Neera, a Tyagi before her marriage to the former IPS officer, can come in handy wooing the sizable Tyagis in the belt. Moreover the defiance by the Yadav couple would also deal a great blow to Mulayam's vanity much to BJP's delight.

Neera Yadav had been Mulayam's most trusted chief secretary during the SP regime in UP who was assigned the top job despite a pending CBI inquiry in the Noida plot allotment case. She was removed only at the Supreme Court's directives in October 2007. Later appointed head of vigilance establishment, Neera took voluntary retirement in March 2008 miffed by the internal politics of the IAS cadre after the association, in a skilfully executed coup, displaced her as the head of the IAS association chairperson.

Mahendra Singh Yadav had joined politics in 1996 after a golden handshake with UP police. Yadav had also been the MLA from Bulandshehar on a BJP ticket. However after his differences with Kalyan Singh he dropped out and joined the SP. Yadav had contested the assembly election under SP banner in 2007 but lost.

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It's 'Prajarajyam' in Chiru party

HYDERABAD: The so-called discipline in Prajarajyam Party ranks is in tatters. Loyal workers protesting denial of tickets to their leaders are
resorting to violence, breaking furniture and setting party offices on fire.

At Kalwakurthy in Mahbubnagar district, PRP activists attacked the party office as their leader Jupalli Prabhakar Rao was not given the assembly ticket. They went on a rampage, damaging furniture and setting the PRP office on fire on Sunday.

Meanwhile, PRP Anantapur assembly candidate, T J Prakash, on Sunday lodged a complaint with district SP M K Singh that he suspected a bomb attack on his car on Saturday as his followers had heard a defeaning sound. "It could be the handiwork of those who did not get the ticket," he said. The car, parked at his residence in Ramnagar, was in flames and his family members alerted the police.

Earlier, a group of Chiranjeevi fans had attacked the party office and set the furniture and computers on fire on Saturday afternoon in protest against denial of Anantapur assembly ticket to Rayalaseema Chiranjeevi Fans Association president A Surendra Babu.

But party sources said Prakash, a lodge owner belonging to Balija community, has been leading the district party ever since PRP was launched. "He has close contacts with Chiranjeevi family and since Balija community votes are prominent in Anantapur the party favoured Prakash," a source said.

The PRP activists also staged a protest at Tadipatri in protest against the candidature of P Narasimhaiah for the assembly ticket. A group of dissidents are planning to field a rebel candidate from Kadiri assembly segment, sources said.

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TRS cadres vent ire on Telangana Bhavan

HYDERABAD: The rebellion in ranks of the TRS cadres over allotment of party tickets rocked the Telangana Bhavan on Sunday for the third
consecutive day. TRS activists on Sunday went on a rampage, damaged window panes and shouted slogans against party president K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) for denying tickets to their leaders.

The supporters of party state secretary S Kranthi Kumar barged into the office premises demanding that TRS should put pressure on TDP and ensure that TDP candidate Babu Mohan withdrew in favour of Kranthi Kumar from Andole assembly seat in Medak district and in a fit of anger damaged glass windows of the front office and that of the chambers of party general secretary G Vijayarama Rao. Earlier, the supporters staged a dharna at the party office premises and shouted slogans.

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