If Manmohan can become PM through back door, why can't I, asks Maya

LUCKNOW: Launching a scathing attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her comment `Aaj kal to har koi pradhan mantri banana chahta hai'(Everybody wants to become the PM these days), BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said if Sonia could bring someone like Manmohan Singh through the ``back door'' to Parliament and make him PM, ``why can't a well-educated `Dalit ki beti' like me, who has won several elections and is CM of country's biggest state, become Prime Minister?''

Sonia in her recent election rallies while sarcastically commenting on prime ministerial aspirations of regional satraps surfacing during Lok Sabha polls, had said, ``The latest fashion in politics is that every one wants to become Prime Minister.''

While politicians whose names have cropped up for the coveted post so far have kept quiet, Mayawati hit back at Sonia in her characteristic style. Addressing a huge election rally in Agra, Mayawati said she qualifies ``more than anyone else'' for the post of PM and exhorted her supporters to vote in large number to ensure victory of BSP candidates.

Mayawati, who usually reads out a pre-written speech, spoke impromptu over Sonia's remarks and issue of prime ministership. ``Yeh Manmohan Singh aaj tak ek bhi chunav nahi lada hai... isse Sonia peechale darwaje se Rajya Sabha me chunva kar layi aur pradhan mantri bana diya. Agar Manmohan Singh pradhan mantri ban sakta hai, to phir padhilikhi Dalit ki beti kyun nahi (Manmohan Singh has not contest any public election... he was brought through back door in Rajya Sabha and made Prime Minister. If Manmmohan can become PM, why can't an educated Dalit women),'' she said amid thunderous applause by BSP supporters.

Mayawati also tried to evoke regional sentiments. ``If BJP can project L K Advani who comes from Gujarat as Prime Minister-in-waiting and Congress can present Manmohan Singh who belongs to Punjab as a candidate for the post, why can't UP think of making one of its candidates Prime Minister,'' she said.

Continue Reading...

Polls head for photo-finish as BJP plays catch-up

The race for emerging as the single largest party and the largest pre-poll alliance in the Lok Sabha election has become really tight. Polling is
yet to be held in 171 seats, although campaigning is over in all but 86 seats. And as parties go into the final stretch of the race, it looks like it will be a photo-finish.

It also seems quite clear now that whichever party or formation emerges as the biggest bloc, it will still have to rope in many more partners after the election in order to form a stable government. By themselves, the two top groups - UPA and NDA - are certain to fall well short of the majority mark of 272.

TOI's political bureaus in 14 different cities and its network of correspondents have been tracking the poll's progress to bring you their best estimates of the likely results. We have done two rounds and here's the third. When we began, it looked like Congress
was well ahead of BJP and the UPA was more than 20 seats ahead of the NDA. No longer.

The Congress, according to our estimate, now looks like ending up with 152 seats and the UPA with 195. The BJP, we feel, is likely to get 145 seats and its allies another 42, taking the NDA's tally to 187. In other words, the gap between the two pre-poll alliances seems no more than 8 seats, and as these are nothing more than estimates, it's really tough to say which way the electoral see-saw will eventually tilt.

The bigger message that's emerging from this scenario is that the leading parties as well as alliances could be separated by less than 10 seats. This would obviously mean that the Left and "Others" could end up deciding who forms the next government.

The current estimates differ from the earlier one in several states. Among the most significant differences is that in Uttar Pradesh - we now feel both the Congress and the BJP might do better than earlier anticipated. Between them and the BJP's ally, Ajit Singh's RLD, they could win 30 of the state's 80 seats. The rest, we believe, will be split 28-22 between the BSP and the SP.

Source : Times Of India

Continue Reading...