BSP eyes Muslim, north Indian votes

MUMBAI: The BSP is eyeing north Indian and Muslim votes in the metropolis, with four of its six candidates from Mumbai seats being either of the two communities.

"The party will soon declare names of the two remaining candidates, who will also be either Muslim or north Indian, in a couple days," BSP state president Vilas Garud said on Thursday.

"North Indians, Muslims and Dalits form a major chunk of voters in the city. However, these communities are being neglected. They want somebody who is from amongst them and would serve them better. This is the reason for giving tickets to north Indian and Muslim candidates," he said.

North Indians are upset with the treatment meted out to them while Muslims are looking for a new secular party which can serve them better, Garud added.

Meanwhile, Congress nominee from Mumbai North Sanjay Nirupam said, "BSP is contesting not to win the polls but to indirectly help communal parties by dividing votes...BSP is here to eat into the Muslim and north Indian votes of Congress in Mumbai. They are here to help BJP and Shiv Sena by dividing the votes."

Muslims and north Indians constitute 40% of around 80 lakh voters in Mumbai. Marathis, Gujaratis, Marwadis and others comprise the rest, he said.

BSP has fielded Mohammed Ali Shaikh (South Mumbai), Atahar Siddique (North West), Ashok Singh (North East) and Lakhminder Khurana (North Mumbai).

Candidates for South-Central and North-Central are yet to be declared.

Continue Reading...

SC issues notices to EC, Praja Rajyam Party on symbol issue

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Election Commission and Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi's party Praja Rajyam on the poll body's decision to allot the rail engine symbol to the southern party.

A Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam sought response from the Election Commission on a petition filed by Rashtriya Krantikari Samajwadi Party (RKSP).

In its petition, the RKSP claimed it was an unrecognized national party with influence in states like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jharkhand, J&K, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka besides Andhra Pradesh and most of its candidates had been fighting the earlier elections on the rail engine symbol.

The party claimed since its candidates were already using the symbol, the same cannot be alloted to Praja Rajyam.

The EC has alloted the rail engine symbol to Praja Rajyam on the directions of the apex court which had clarified that the allotment of the symbol would only be restricted to the present election.

Source : Times of India

Continue Reading...

Kirorilal Meena, Cong engaged in a war of nerves

NEW DELHI: Kirorilal Meena. The man is widely believed to have sounded the death knell of Vasundhara Raje's dream of bucking anti-incumbency in
Rajasthan while helping Ashok Gehlot form the government.
But the ambitious Meena strongman is now bargaining hard with Congress
for nominees of his choice in the tribal seats, triggering a deadlock on seven of 25 seats.

If in three months, Congress is seeing a villain in Meena after toasting him as Raje's nemesis, it speaks about the importance of one-caste parties in close electoral contests in a fragmented polity. Established political parties feel they count as much as assets as for their damage potential.

Meena emerged the leader of his community as he tapped its anger in the wake of a violent Gujjar-Meena tussle. Quickly, he emerged the retailer of its votes.

Meena is sure of his value. "BJP lost by victimising me and Congress can gain by promoting me," he told TOI.

BJP strategists concede Meena was a major reason in the assembly polls swinging towards the Congress, as he single-handedly determined the community's preference.

Having taken his help in forming the government, with his unlettered wife Golma Devi even made a minister, there is now a rethink in Congress on further propping up Meena as it is felt that pandering to his demand was only fuelling his ambitions.

Sources said a shrewd Gehlot has put his foot down against indulging `Dr Sahab' beyond Dausa and Kota, while the latter has asked for Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Kota, Churu, Sikar and Jaipur rural. This is the belt where Meenas hold clout.

It is a risky strategy, as Meena is in a position to dent the party fortunes in seven constituencies. But the dynamics of caste politics are such.

Source

Continue Reading...

AIADMK front may split over seats

CHENNAI: The deadlock over seat-sharing among allies in the AIADMK camp has apparently assumed crisis proportions with discontented alliance
partners - MDMK and CPM - reportedly thinking of “exploring other options” if party chief J Jayalalithaa does not concede their demands.

As several rounds of discussions failed, the ball is now in Jayalalithaa’s court. The CPM, which was offered three seats, has been insisting on Tirupur, while the MDMK, an AIADMK ally since 2006, wants at least five seats against the three reportedly on offer. The AIADMK has already allocated seven seats to the PMK and three to the CPI. Even while nurturing hopes that the AIADMK chief will resolve the standoff, both parties are said to be looking at other options.

Continue Reading...

Mulayam says he is not in the run for the PM's post

GORAKHPUR (UP): Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has said he is not in the race for prime minister's
post, but his aim is to form a
"secular" government at the Centre.

He said for this reason only his party had supported the Congress on nuclear deal issue.

"The post of the prime minister or a union minister is not important for me than forming a secular government
at the Centre. I am not in the race for the Prime Minister's post," Yadav said.

Addressing public meetings in Majhgawan (Bansgaon constituency) and Pipigunj (Gorakhpur constituency) from where Sharda Devi and Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari are contesting the polls respectively on SP tickets, he lashed out against what he called the BSP's "caste-based politics" and BJP's "attempt to divide" the country on communal lines.

Yadav said yesterday that the SP had spared key constituencies for Congress as a "goodwill" gesture.

He asked the people to vote for a non-BSP, non-BJP Government at the Centre

Continue Reading...

PM says Pakistan epicentre of world terrorism

LONDON: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Pakistan as the "epicentre of terrorism in the world" and said it had failed to take effective
action against militants, in an interview published Wednesday.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Singh said Islamabad was either "unable" or "unwilling" to control Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which New Delhi accuses of staging the November attacks on Mumbai that killed 165 people.

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating," he said.

Singh said that despite pledges by Pakistan throughout the past decade that it would not be a launch pad for attacks against India, "in practice no effective action has been taken to control terror."

He added: "We all know the epicentre of terrorism in the world today is Pakistan. The world community has to come to grips with this reality."

Continue Reading...

'02 riot-hit Muslim ex-cop joins BJP

AHMEDABAD: Retired IPS officer Abdullah Ibrahim Saiyad, who was attacked by a mob during the 2002 Gujarat riots, has sprung a surprise by joining Abdullah Ibrahim
the BJP, in another indication of the image make-over that Chief Minister Narendra Modi is striving for ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

He told TOI on Tuesday that he joined the BJP because of Modi. “Modi belongs to the same district as I, and he is one person who does what he says,” says Saiyad, who is from Ganwada village in Mehsana district. “Modi has a way of doing justice,” adds Saiyad.

Saiyad, who retired in May 2008 as an additional DGP, had found himself mobbed in Vejalpur area of Ahmedabad in March 2002. Seeing his police vehicle with flashing red lights approaching, the mob had stopped him to complain about stone throwing from the other side.

But someone noticed the name on his badge and started screaming for revenge. As the mob stoned his car, the driver sped away to safety in a miraculous escape for this officer who was heading the Police Training Academy at Karai near Ahmedabad in those days. Recalling the incident in a chat with TOI on Tuesday, Saiyad said: “They were just mad people who had nothing to do with the BJP. I am thankful that God gave me presence of mind on that day. Had I opened fire with my service revolver, I would have been lynched.”

He attributed his joining the BJP to a “well-wisher” who wrote a letter to LK Advani saying that the BJP should enrol educated Muslims like him. A few months after he retired, he got a call from state BJP president Purshottam Rupala who told him that his entry into the party would be “timed properly”. Saiyad says he knew Modi from his days as Mehsana superintendent of police and he was always inclined towards the BJP.

Saiyad’s entry into the BJP is being seen in the light of developments in recent weeks where some Muslim leaders have endorsed the leadership of Narendra Modi and called upon the community to move on with their lives, even as the law takes its course in the Gujarat riots cases.

The state government’s recent move to appoint DGP Shabbir Khandwawala as the head of Gujarat police was also seen as an olive branch offered to the community. Among the important assignments that Saiyad held after his promotion
to the IPS in 1978 was as officer on special duty to KPS Gill who was appointed security adviser to the state government after the 2002 riots.

Continue Reading...

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.

Continue Reading...

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

Continue Reading...

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.

Continue Reading...