India Politics

By IANS New Delhi : A year after he died most dramatically, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) admitted Friday that it "very much" missed Pramod Mahajan, a veteran who was at home as much with the corporate world as with politics. "We miss him very much, specially his organisational capabilities and political acumen," former party president M. Venkaiah Naidu told IANS. Naidu and his other colleagues admitted that the shooting of Mahajan in April last year by his brother and his eventual death in May 2006 had left a vacuum that the party had not been able to fill up.

By IANS New Delhi : Parliamentarians Friday were locked in verbal battle for the second day over the Sethusamudram canal project off the Tamil Nadu coast, which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) maintains would destroy an ancient bridge that once linked India and Sri Lanka. While the BJP MPs, led by deputy leader V.K. Malhotra, wanted the government to stop the project, the DMK MPs refused to allow the opposition to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha.

By IANS New Delhi : The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) continues to lead in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections after the sixth phase of polling Thursday with the ruling Samajwadi Party improving its position to come second, exit polls by NDTV news channel showed. The BSP is projected to bag 19-23 of the 52 seats for which elections were held Thursday with its tally likely to touch 120-130.

By IANS New Delhi : Is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee quitting politics? An editorial in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece 'Panchjanya' may say so, but not his party. "Relieve me of active politics. It's enough, let me go," the magazine quoted the former prime minister as saying, and inferred that he wants to quit politics. It described him as a "pragya purush" (man of wisdom).

By IANS Ballia/Ambedkarnagar/Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh) : Congress star campaigner Rahul Gandhi Thursday kicked off campaigning for the seventh and final phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls with another impressive road show drawing charmed crowds. Starting his campaign in Ballia in the state's eastern corner, Rahul undertook a whirlwind tour of several adjoining areas including parts of Azamgarh and Ambedkar district that go to polls on May 8.

By IANS Lucknow : Millions voted Thursday in the sixth and penultimate round of staggered assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, but even by evening officials were calling the polling "low". Although balloting picked up after a slow and hesitant start despite the relative cool of the morning, only a third of the 16.3 million in this round had voted in the first eight hours - till about 3 p.m. Polling ended at 5 p.m.

By R.B. Singh IANS Gorakhpur : He is not such a big draw as the youthful Congress MP Rahul Gandhi nor does he possess the fiery demagoguery skills of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has in his own fashion been able to leave his imprint in election rallies in Uttar Pradesh. After making almost half-a-dozen appearances in various parts of the state in a period of a month that has attracted modest crowds, Singh, unlike the other star campaigners, has been able to reach out to audiences by raising his pet topic of development.

Elites ate up 60 Kg cake, workers drench in open

By News Agency of Kashmir

 

By IANS New Delhi : The Lok Sabha was adjourned for 15 minutes Thursday following a row between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Tamil Nadu MPs over a shipping canal that will cut sailing time between India's west and east coasts. V.K. Malhotra of BJP raised the issue during the zero hour, questioning the government's unwillingness to explore an alternative canal route instead of the present one that is expected to destroy remains of an ancient footbridge that once linked southern India with Sri Lanka.

By IANS Lucknow : Notwithstanding the relative cool of the morning, polling was slow in the first few hours Thursday in the sixth and penultimate round of Uttar Pradesh's staggered elections. The turnout in the first two hours -- since 7 a.m. -- was only about 6 percent in the 52 constituencies spread across the nine districts of Varanasi, Allahabad, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Mirzapur, Chandauli, Sonbhadra and Kaushambhi. Officials were optimistic that the voter turnout would improve as the day progressed.

By IANS, Rajpura (Punjab) : Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh returned to the state he ruled till two months ago, to a rousing reception from Congress workers and over 20 legislators Wednesday. Covered with garlands and standing on an open jeep at the head of the cavalcade, Amarinder reached the Shambu barrier, 10 km from here, in the afternoon with Congress supporters raising slogans hailing him.

By IANS, New Delhi : The Congress party Wednesday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of yet another scam, alleging that there had been false claims for fertiliser subsidies from Lucknow between 1994-2000. But this time the party has pointed fingers at the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) too. The Congress, which has been soft towards BSP supremo Mayawati during the campaigning for five phases of state polls, alleged that all the non-Congress parties, including BSP and Samajwadi Party - had been hand in glove to conceal a Rs.10 billion fertiliser scam by the then BJP government.

By IANS, Lucknow : The highly sensitive Maoist belt of Uttar Pradesh will be among the 52 constituencies voting in the penultimate phase of the seven-phase assembly polls Thursday. Of the 100,000 personnel of the central paramilitary forces and provincial armed constabulary (PAC) detailed for the phase, 10,000 have been posted in and around the 680 villages where Maoist rebels hold sway in the three districts of Mirzapur, Chandauli and Sonbhadra.

By Faraz Ahmad, IANS New Delhi : It promises to be two days of celebrations for Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) former mascots Uma Bharati and Govindacharya, with the dissident sanyasin's birthday falling on Thursday and her ailing close aide's on Wednesday. Uma Bharati, who heads the Bharatiya Janshakti party, celebrates her 48th birthday Thursday amid talk of her rejoining the BJP. But before that, her political guru and best friend, the one time BJP ideologue K.N. Govindacharya will party in his temporary home in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj.

By IANS Mumbai : Sans Pramod Mahajan, neither his family - struggling with son Rahul's drug controversy and murder proceedings against brother Pravin - nor his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have found the past 12 months an easy ride. Like BJP, many other parties, including its saffron alliance partner Shiv Sena, continue to miss the articulation of the GenNext leader, whose life was cut short by his own brother a year ago.

By IANS New Delhi : The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) may be desperately trying to broaden its base by roping in Hindu upper castes it once despised, but it may not necessarily succeed, a new book says. But if it does emerge as a party enjoying core Dalit support as well as the backing of a broad spectrum of others in the society, the BSP will bring about a radical change in Uttar Pradesh.

By IANS, Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) : Congress star campaigner Rahul Gandhi was given an enthusiastic welcome in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi as he undertook a grand road show here Tuesday, the last day of campaigning for the sixth phase of the staggered Uttar Pradesh assembly election Thursday. People cheered him all along his journey through the narrow lanes and by-lanes of this crowded city. They showered rose petals on him as they lined both sides of the road and flung garlands at him from windows and balconies of houses and from rooftops.

By Raj B. Singh, IANS, Lucknow: With tiresome regularity she targets Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and his able lieutenant Amar Singh at every election rally swearing to send them to "jail" as her top priority. And Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati's gambit seems to be working. "Uttar Pradesh is being ruled by a corrupt and evil government led by Mulayam Singh which has ruined all systems of governance as well as the law and order machinery," Mayawati thundered at an election rally in Bahraich last week.

By Sharat Pradhan, IANS, Allahabad : It is the Gandhis versus the Bachchans in this historic Uttar Pradesh town in these crucial campaign days, with the political dynasty vying with the glitter of Bollywood to attract voters. And the eminent daughters-in-law of both families are using every sentimental trick in the book to strike a chord.

By Syed Zarir Hussain

Guwahati, May 1 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's adopted home state of Assam is all set to re-elect him for a fourth straight term in the biennial elections for Rajya Sabha May 24. "It would be a mere formality for the prime minister to get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from one of the two seats in Assam," Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told IANS on telephone from New Delhi. The prime minister is one of the two MPs from Assam whose term ends June 14. The second Rajya Sabha MP from Assam is Indramoni Bora from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

By Pervez Bari

TwoCircles.net 

 

Bhopal: Stormy of Indian politics Ms Uma Bharti, who floated her own political outfit Bharatiya Janshakti, (BJS), after being expelled from rightist Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), has said that she does not eye Indian Muslims with suspicion.

 

Lucknow, May 1 (IANS) As the staggered Uttar Pradesh assembly election heads for the sixth and penultimate phase May 3, the number of contestants with criminal background is only going up. Against 115 alleged outlaws in the fifth phase April 28, the next phase on Thursday has 138 such people out of the 785 candidates in the fray for 52 seats across nine districts, largely in the state's eastern part.