Amar Singh accuses Congress of cutting secular votes in UP

BALLIA: Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh on Monday accused the Congress
party of trying to cut through the secular vote bank in Uttar Pradesh, called the party a 'vote-cutter'.

Alleged that the Congress was not a true well wisher of Muslims, Singh said, "In the Congress ruled states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Assam, atrocities against Muslims are on the rise."

He completely ruled out any possibility of a post-poll tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Addressing two rallies, Amar Singh said, "Samajwadi Party will not enter into any sort of post-poll tie-up with the BJP, as the party had in the past helped in forming the government of BSP on three occasions."

"If L K Advani becomes the Prime Minister, then Mayawati will become the deputy Prime Minister and union home minister, he claimed.

Taking an U-turn on the 'English controversy', Singh said, "The recent statement of Mulayam Singh Yadav as reported in a section of the media of putting a ban on English and computer education (mentioned in our manifesto) is completely false. He has only opposed English being made compulsory in governance."

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Poll panel finds Lalu, Rabri, Uddhav replies 'not satisfactory'

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Monday said the replies filed by railways minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray to the panel's notices on poll code violation were not satisfactory.

"The Election Commission did not find the reply satisfactory and have conveyed its strong displeasure," Deputy Election Commissioner R. Balakrishnan told reporters here.

On April 9, the poll panel had issued notices to Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi for poll code violations and asked them to send their replies by April 11.

Lalu Prasad is in the dock for his remarks at an election rally April 6 that had he been the home minister "he would have run a roller over Varun Gandhi".

Lalu Prasad's remarks created a furore and the police had issued an arrest order against him. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi is in a jail in Uttar Pradesh
for his reported inflammatory speeches in Pilibhit district.

Rabri Devi was served a notice for her alleged derogatory remarks against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and state Janata Dal-United chief Rajiv Ranjan at Saran.

Balakrishnan said the commission has rejected the contentions made by Thackeray, who at a election rally March 20 in Mumbai, had referred to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a derogatory manner.

He said the poll panel has also asked the Maharashtra chief electoral officer to keep a track of the case filed against Thackeray in this context.

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IJP candidate found dead, protests held

JAUNPUR (UP): Body of an Indian Justice Party (IJP) candidate from Jaunpur parliamentary constituency was found hanging from a tree near his
IJP candidate found dead residence here today, triggering massive protests in the area.

The body of 35-year-old Vijay Bahadur Sonker was found hanging from a tree in Raja Saheb Ka Pokhra locality this morning, IG Police, Varanasi, Kamal Saxena said.

Family members of the deceased have alleged BSP candidate from Jaunpur Dhananjay Singh's hand in the murder. ASP Jaunpur Dinesh Chander confirmed that the police had got a complaint from Sonker on threat to his life from the BSP candidate.

People in large numbers took to the streets in the city, going to polls in the second phase on April 23, to protest the incident, prompting police to resort to cane charge to contain the mob.

Meanwhile, the BSP accused the SP of killing Sonker and demanded the state government to order a high level probe into the incident.

"Out of desperation, the SP hatched a conspiracy to kill the candidate as the party feared that its candidate will lose the election...We have demanded that the state government order a high-level probe into the incident," senior party leader Babu Singh Kushwaha told reporters in Lucknow.

The rival SP candidate Paras Nath Yadav described Sonker's killing as "the murder of democracy". IJP chief Udit Raj, who arrived in the city, demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter.

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