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."

Continue Reading...

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.

Continue Reading...

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.

Continue Reading...

Varun national threat, Mayawati govt tells SC

NEW DELHI: Mayawati government has strongly opposed Varun Gandhi's challenge to his detention under the National Security Act.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court through the district magistrate of Pilibhit, the UP government has justified the detention of BJP candidate by calling him a threat to public order and accusing him of causing fear among Muslims. The next hearing is on Monday.

The strong defence of Varun's detention is significant in view of the sharp reactions the case has drawn. Both Samajwadi Party and Congress suspect that the use of a tough law against Varun just after his purportedly provocative speech against Muslims was meant to polarise the electorate. In fact, SP has even talked of a clandestine pact between BJP and BSP.

Mayawati's vigorous defence of its move against Varun Gandhi in the SC can only strengthen the suspicion about a clandestine pact between the BJP and the BSP to polarise the electorate. There are indications of rising appreciation among Muslim community for her tough stand against the BJP candidate, as well as signs of sympathy for the saffron party in Pilibhit and other constituencies of eastern UP.

In his affidavit, Ajay Chauhan, district magistrate of Pilibhit, has defended his preventive detention order against Varun, saying that latter's acitivities were prejudicial to public order.

He builds up his case against Varun by saying that he held his rally under the banner of "Hindu Samman Sammelan", and not as "Karyakarta Sammelan" as claimed in the petition challenging his detention.

The affidavit dismisses Varun's defence that the CD of his purported contents was doctored as irrelevant to present proceedings which it says is centred on the competence of the district magistrate to detain him under NSA.

It also says that the petitioner should have presented his case before the Advisory Board, which scrutinises the legality of preventive detentions under NSA, rather than the SC.

Continue Reading...

Muslims are harassed in name of terror: PM

NEW DELHI: Acknowledging that Muslim youth are sometimes harassed in the "name of terrorists", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday night asked security forces to observe "zero tolerance" for fundamental human rights violations while dealing with such cases.

Interacting with a group of senior Urdu journalists here, he said the entire community could not be suspected of being terrorists and that being a Sikh, he understands the concerns of Muslims.

He suggested that committees, comprising respected Muslims, should be set up in states to look into any case of harassment of innocent members of the community.

"Mai manta hun ki hindustan ke musalmanon ko kaafi mushkilat ka samna karna padta hai, kuch samay terrorist ke naam par Muslim navjawanon ko pareshan bi kiya jata hai (I agree that Indian Muslims face a lot of difficulties, sometimes in the name of terrorists, Muslim youth are harassed)," Singh said.

Underlining that he "understands" the problems faced by the minority community, the Prime Minister said his message to security forces, whether in Jammu and Kashmir or elsewhere, is zero tolerance for fundamental human rights violations."

Continue Reading...

BJP for creation of smaller states: Jaswant Singh

SILIGURI (WB): BJP candidate from Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat Jaswant Singh on Friday said his party was in favour of smaller states but refrained
from saying if it was for creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.

He said BJP in principle favoured creation of smaller states and the NDA government had created three states in the country.

Without uttering the word 'Gorkhaland', Singh told a press conference that his party would 'sympathetically and appropriately' examine and consider the long-pending demands of Gorkhas, adivasis and other people of the area.

Later addressing an election rally at Sukhiapokhri in Darjeeling, Singh, describing the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's demand for a separate seat as 'constitutional', said he would raise the matter on the floor of Parliament and do everything possible for the development of the district.

The former external affairs minister, who is supported by GJM, accused West Bengal's Left front government for neglecting the district and the hills, in particular.

He charged the Left Front government, during its 32 years of rule, had failed to provide the people of the district with minimum facilities like health, education, and road communication.

Continue Reading...

Praja Rajyam spokesman spits venom, quits

HYDERABAD: In a major setback to Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam ahead of the elections, its spokesman Parakala Prabhakar on Thursday quit the party describing it as a "poisonous tree".

"I am one of the founding members of the party. I had even signed on the documents to register the Praja Rajyam as a political party. I expected that the party would strive for clean politics. But it proved to be otherwise. This is a poisonous tree," he told reporters at the party office.

Prabhakar alleged that all is not well with the functioning of the party.

"Initially, I thought mistakes are happening because of lack of understanding. But I began to think about the aim of starting the party. There is a flaw in the birth of the party itself," he said.

He said he does not have the ability to reverse the process of decay in Praja Rajyam and thought it prudent to quit.

"Some people may think that this party is good because of my presence. I have a responsibility to tell them that it is an evil force," he said.

Replying to a query, Prabhakar said he did not apply for ticket to contest the elections.

Continue Reading...

'No govt at Centre possible without SP, RJD, LJP'

SAIFAI (UP): In their first show of strength in Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday addressed a
joint rally in Saifai, claiming that the next government at the Centre cannot be formed without them.

Addressing the public meeting here, also his home town, SP supremo Mulayam Singh said, "No government at the Centre is possible without the three parties."

RJD chief Lalu Prasad said "Three brothers have come together, not only to win Lok Sabha elections, but also to fight communalism...we will show our strength in the cow belt."

Thanking Mulayam Singh for SP's support to the UPA government during the trust vote in July, Prasad said "had the SP not been there, the government would not have survived."

Taking a dig at political rivals, the RJD chief said when the three parties came together, some people in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh "got scared" as they were not expecting the new alliance to come through.

Attacking Congress, Prasad said "Congress wants to strengthen its organization
and not win elections in Bihar and UP."

Paswan, the Lok Janshakti Party supremo, claimed that he and Lalu "were standing like rocks" to support Mulayam Singh. "No one can separate us," he asserted.

Attacking the BJP, Paswan said "They (BJP) can only demolish, not construct anything." He was referring to the demolition of the Babri mosque.

Lalu also used the opportunity to target the saffron party and its leader L K Advani. "He wants to be the Prime Minister. But he cannot...People claim I know magic as I can predict the future," he said.

He said the NDA was disintegrating with BJD, AIADMK and National Conference deserting it. "They implemented POTA, but we removed it (POTA ko sota mar kar khatma kiya)".

Paswan said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has done little for the poor. "Elephant (BSP's election symbol) is meant for the rich and not the poor," he said.

The three regional political satraps are scheduled to address three more election rallies. The second rally will be held in Bareilly to cover the Ruhailkand area. Two other rallies will be held in Varanasi and Gorakhpur, two prominent cities of east UP which is also known as Purvanchal.

This is for the first time in nearly a decade that the three cow belt leaders have addressed a rally jointly.

Similar joint rallies have been planned for Bihar in the coming days.

Continue Reading...

Congress may dump Tytler to secure Sikh votes

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The fate of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler's nomination from Delhi North-East is hanging by a slender thread. With the
"shoe throwing" protest by journalist Jarnail Singh triggering sharp reaction among Sikhs, Congress leadership is seriously considering to dump Tytler to secure its prospects in Punjab. ( Watch )

The resentment triggered by Jarnail's action swept Punjab as dozens of Sikh groups held up trains at several places in the state on Wednesday, fuelling the Tytler issue anew.

The protests, which came as a surprise to the Akali government in Punjab, sensitised the Congress leadership to the risk of persevering with Tytler, a former Union minister who is one of the prominent accused in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

Congress is hopeful of improving its tally from Punjab, but fears that spotlight on Tytler may neutralise the advantage. Akalis have swiftly latched on to the controversy to remind Sikhs of the charge of official sponsorship of anti-Sikh violence in the aftermath of the assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi.

Tytler's case comes up on Thursday before Rakesh Pandit, additional chief metropolitan magistrate of New Delhi who is to take a view on the CBI report which has disputed the veracity of the testimony of one Jasbir Singh who claimed to be a witness to Tytler's involvement in the rioting against Sikhs.

Congress sources, however, said Tytler may not be in the clear even if the court accepts the report of the investigating agency. "It is a matter of perception," said a party functionary familiar with leadership's thinking.

While Tytler was defiant and sought to rubbish reports about a re-think on his ticket, the leadership sounded out the party unit in Punjab on potential repercussions for party's chances in the state. "PPCC has already discussed and apprised party president Sonia Gandhi about the implications of Tytler issue on poll prospects in the state," Punjab Congress chief Mahinder Singh Kaypee told reporters.

Kaypee was not forthcoming on detials. But he did point to reports about party leadership's decision to review the decision to field Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, another prominent Congressman accused in the riots and party's candidate for South Delhi, when pressed by journalists in Chandigarh.

The protests in Punjab involved various Sikh outfits.Rail traffic remained disrupted for over four hours with activists of Damdami Taksal and other Sikh organizations led by Sant Samaj stopping trains and squatting on the tracks between 11am to 3pm. Several trains were stopped at various stations before the start of the dharna.

At the Dakoha railway crossing in Jalandhar, the protest was led by Damdami Taksal chief Harnam Singh Dhuma and SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar.

Long-distance trains, including the Flying Express from Amritsar to Darbhanga, were cancelled and others like Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi and Dadar-Amritsar Express delayed. However, many trains that left the Amritsar area before the demonstrators blocked the tracks chugged along on schedule. Reports from most places said cops made no attempt to disperse the protesters.

In Haryana too, Sikh community leaders held a symbolic dharna at the railway station in Kurukshetra.

Continue Reading...

Mayawati slams EC for transferring top state officer

LUCKNOW: Criticizing the Election Commission for transferring a top state official, UP chief minister Mayawati on Wednesday said that such action
could demoralize the officialdom ahead of the first phase of polling and may lead to law and order problems in the state.

"Removing of the officer just due to political reasons on basis of their baseless allegation will demoralize officers of the state due to which law and order problem could erupt in the state. EC will be responsible if there is any terrorist or Naxal problem or any incident happens with me or any other leader during campaigning," Mayawati told reporters here.

The EC on Tuesday had ordered transfer of UP principal secretary of home, Fateh Bahadur Singh following complaints from the opposition.

Assuring the commission that the BSP government in the state was committed to hold free and fair polls, Mayawati said that she had given orders to its officers to follow directions of the commission and ensure that there should be no violation of model code of conduct during the elections.

"I have not only directed the officials, but also party candidates, office-bearers and workers that they must adhere by the model code of conduct and cooperate with the government machinery," she said.

Continue Reading...