Action against Varun blot on history, says Jaitley

BHUBANESWAR: BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Monday described the government action against Varun Gandhi as a blot on the country's history. "The
baseless charges like attempt to murder and arrest under the NSA is both disproportionate and vindictive. It augurs badly for the Indian democracy," Jaitley said. He accused Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP of speaking in tandem on the issue.

Jaitley also predicted that polarization of political forces has created a conducive atmosphere for BJP to come to power in Orissa in the coming elections. Jaitley paced his argument on the basis of performance of the Congress government in the past and the one led by Naveen Patnaik who "concentrated more on scheming against others than development of the state."

"BJD leadership lacked political honesty. It perfected the art of betrayal. Betrayal in politics may work sometimes. But you do it repeatedly the general masses rise up to betray you," the BJP leader said, indicating the likely fate of the BJD in the elections. He alleged that BJD had joined hands with those forces who are inimical to Orissa's economic progress and have links with Maoists. He admitted BJP while performing the "coalition dharma religiously" had actually made a tactical mistake by continuing in the government.

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BJP-BSP faceoff leaves Cong, Mulayam scared

LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government's decision to slap the dreaded NSA on Varun Gandhi for his hate speech in Pilibhit forced
arch-rival Mulayam Singh Yadav to dub it an "unjustified move", amid growing perception that Mayawati was using the issue to rally Muslims behind her prime ministerial aspiration.

Mulayam called the stringent police action against Varun "completely wrong", even as he covered his flanks against any perception of siding with a BJP man by accusing Mayawati of working in concert with the saffron party for the Pilibhit aspirant.

To buttress his point, Mulayam asked why Varun was not arrested before he could whip up passions by undertaking a surrender drama on March 28.

The SP reaction was strikingly similar to that of the Congress which saw a tacit BJP-BSP pact in Pilibhit, reflecting their fears that Mayawati may steal their ``secular'' thunder.

If "Maulana Mulayam" is risking being seen as lenient on a BJP man in the thick of elections, it is only reflective of how the BSP czarina has turned the Pilibhit controversy into a political gambit, leaving SP and Congress looking for urgent counter moves.

However, Mulayam's attack on the state government coincided with support from prominent Muslim clergy and the influential All India Muslim Personal Law Board for the tough action against Varun.

Source

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Hate speech: Weak BJP to Maya's advantage

LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s attack on UP government on Monday coincided with support from prominent Muslim clergy and the
influential All India Muslim Personal Law Board for the action against Varun Gandhi.

Obviously, the question being asked is why Mayawati didn’t pre-empt the Varun roadshow, not a big task if she could stop L K Advani from holding a rally in Azamgarh just a few days ago.

Sources in Lucknow said Mayawati, who was initially wary of clamping down on Varun for fear of an adverse fallout among Brahmins, made up her mind after intelligence reports that the Pilibhit turnout on Saturday was a VHP affair with little local support.

The strategists of both Congress and SP seem convinced that the Mayawati gameplan is simple — let Varun-BJP polarize Hindus while she can clamp down on saffronites to consolidate Muslims behind BSP.

The gambit has a special role in western and central UP where BSP has to contend with strong challenge from SP and Congress. She can change the battle terrain by inserting a weak BJP in the play. A competitive SP and Congress hurt BSP more on Muslim front — a social group Mayawati is eyeing to supplement her Dalit-Brahmin combo.

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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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Cong: Mayawati helped BJP turn Varun arrest into grand event

NEW DELHI: Congress on Saturday slammed the Mayawati government for being hand in glove with BJP, saying that permission to Varun Gandhi
to make
a spectacle of his arrest with a procession in Pilibhit reflected an understanding between the two parties.

AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters that it defied logic why the UP administration let Varun Gandhi turn his surrender in Pilibhit into a public event when it knew that the drama was aimed at creating religious polarisation.

"We have all along said there is close liaisoning between BSP and BJP, and this episode has proved it again,"
said Singh, AICC incharge of UP. Singh said, "If the administration was serious, it could have picked up Varun without the fanfare."

Saying that Varun's politics over religion was reflective of the larger BJP gameplan to communalise elections, Singh said there should be strong action against Varun for the venom he has spewed against Muslims and Sikhs.

Congress leader Veerappa Moily dismissed apprehensions that the Pilibhit episode would benefit BJP. "Every drama has a period and it sours after that. This one has a life of a day. We will let it die its natural death," he said.

CPM too expressed "grave concern" over clashes between BJP supporters and thepolice during Varun's arrest. "The big mobilisation in Pilibhit, the forcing of confrontation with police, rousing passions by rabble-rousing are clearly BJP's campaign strategy," politburo member Sitaram Yechury said.

Yechury added, "Communal polarisation is part of their vote consolidating mechanism. It shows that they have no other issue to garner votes."

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Congress needs grassroots leaders, not TV faces: Akhilesh

he SP is locked in a battle with the BSP for supremacy in Uttar Pradesh. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's son and two-term MP, Akhilesh Yadav, has been campaigning in the state for more than a month. Rustam Roy of Timesofindia.com caught up with Akhilesh on the campaign trail. Excerpts:

Q: Looking back at your first two terms in the Lok Sabha, what did you learn from them? Who inspired you the most in the Lok Sabha?

A: In politics you learn a lot. In the last two terms I had the responsibility of my party and the youth wing. I had to build the youth organization, so I couldn't devote much time in the Lok Sabha. I was mostly travelling around Uttar Pradesh, but still managed to raise questions in Parliament. This time I would devote more time in Parliament.

Q: What was your most memorable moment in Parliament?

A: Lots of things happen suddenly, just like during the nuclear deal trust vote. Many MPs spoke during the trust vote but Omar's speech stood out. I was in the House, I was in fact sitting just behind him and somebody from another party had managed to provoke him, so he gave a great speech. The words came from the heart for his country. It was a great speech. By the time my chance came, money was on the table and it all went haywire.

Q: Akhilesh, now several months later, the SP is at loggerheads with the Congress. You have almost moved towards a divorce.

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Murder taint on AGP-BJP nominee

GUWAHATI: In the mudslinging game, each party is trying to score more points than the other. And why should the ruling Congress be left behind?
Firing a salvo at the AGP-BJP combine, chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday said the coalition is fielding a candidate who has been chargesheeted in a murder case.

However, Gogoi refrained from naming the candidate. "Let them (AGP-BJP) deny it first, then I will name the nominee who has been chargesheeted in a murder case," he said, while underlining the Congress policy of keeping tainted persons away from contesting elections on the party's ticket.

In the same breath, Gogoi stressed that the two Independent legislators, Jiten Gogoi and Kushal Duori, against whom arrest warrants have been issued for their alleged vandalism inside the Kaziranga National Park, are absconding. The two MLAs support the Congress in the House and their respective Assembly constituencies are segments of Koliabor and Jorhat parliamentary constituencies.

Gogoi said their arrests would not have an impact on the Congress fortunes in these two Lok Sabha seats. "Lok Sabha elections are different and the view points of the same set of voters differ in the case of Assembly and parliamentary elections. I don't think their arrests would have any negative impact on the Congress," he added.

There is a common feeling among people that the two MLAs are still evading police action as they are in positions to influence their voters, at least in Assembly constituencies, which might hamper the Congress.

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