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Vajpayee releases NDA manifesto

          New Delhi: Releasing the manifesto of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at Pramod Mahajan's residence here today, a confident Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the document highlighted not only the achievements of the combine, but also the goals that it had set for itself for the coming five years. When asked to respond to the contradictory statements that he had made in New Delhi and Lucknow over the past week regarding Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani's role in making him the Prime Minister of the country, Vajpayee humorously replied: "The time hasn't come for me to go." Vajpayee said that he was extremely pleased and satisfied with the achievements of the NDA since 1998-99, and said that the manifesto had been drawn up in consultation with the combine's constituents. He said that this alliance had the potential to carry on and, it would only be decided after the elections on whether new members were to be admitted.

          "We've achieved much of what we promised. I'm happy that we've provided a stable and working coalition with your trust. The manifesto is a blueprint for accelerated development. It also documents our achievements," Vajpayee announced soon after formally releasing the manifesto. The manifesto focuses on development and promises to bring in a law to ban persons of foreign origin from holding high posts. It also calls for a speedy and amicable resolution to the Ayodhya issue, saying that it will improve national integration. "We have said earlier that the Ram Mandir issue will be settled through negotiations and if that doesn't happen, it will be left to the courts to settle it," the Prime Minister said. He further went on to say that the NDA would focus on agriculture and on creating one crore jobs, as also focus on the development of minorities.

          The manifesto also talks about, bringing out a minority development agenda, which will focus on their education, economic upliftment and empowerment, in the next six months. It speaks of continuing the dialogue process with Pakistan for a lasting solution to all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, on the basis of the joint statement in February 2004. Present on the occasion were the convener of the NDA and Union Defence Minister George Fernandes, Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan, besides many others. Fernandes praised the government saying that it had fulfilled all its promises made in the previous manifesto.

Advani offer to ban opinion-exit poll (Go To Top)

          Patna: The Central government will seriously consider promulgating an ordinance should the Election Commission decide to ban the publication or telecasting of opinion and exit polls, said Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani. "I am on a Bharat Uday Yatra. I cannot tell much about it, but the government will definitely consider promulgating an ordinance to ban the opinion and exit polls provided the Commission moots such proposal," he told reporters here. According to reports, the EC has asked the law ministry for an ordinance to ban the opinion and exit polls.

         On Wednesday, Advani blamed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) government in Bihar for failing to develop the state. "It is very sad that there has been no development in Bihar. In 1997 I made an analysis that the main reason for lack of development is lack of administration. And it is completely the Bihar government's fault," he said. "Though these are national elections it is the right time for the people of Bihar to warn the government that they should change the political atmosphere otherwise people would be forced to change them," he added. The BJP has called national elections, six months early in a bid to capitalise on booming economy, good monsoon and peace prospects with Pakistan. Exit polls and analysts have predicted a second-term for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the party's most charismatic leader.

SC three-day deadline to EC, Centre on political ads (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Election Commission and the Centre were today given three more days by the Supreme Court to evolve a "proper mechanism" to monitor all political advertisements on TV channels and cable networks so as to prevent telecast of slanderous or surrogate ads.

KLO militant's family keen on voting this time (Go To Top)

          Siliguri: With the general elections round the corner, poll fever has enveloped almost everyone in the country. The family of Pabitra Singha, one of the topguns of the North East insurgent group Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) is keen on casting their vote this time. Despite Pabitra being in police custody, the Singhas are keen on taking part in this year's elections. Sitting in her courtyard, Chumki, each day awaits the arrival of her son Pabitra. But while her heart beckons Pabitra to return home, Chumki has not forgotten her responsibilities as a citizen of the country. Looking forward to this year's elections, Chumki says that she would take part in the voting process. Chumki says: "I will vote. And I do believe that if my son has a change of heart and comes home, even for a day, he will not go back to his old ways as he was a very good person. He was misled and had just strayed into that kind of work."

          Following her footsteps are also the other members of the Singha family, who agree that only by taking part in elections can one hope for development. A true testimony to the fact that no matter what ideologies insurgent groups follow, the people still believe in democracy and good governance. Pabitra's brother Bhupendranath Singha, says: "Why should we boycott the elections? We are not against the government. We will definitely vote. We have been voting for all these years." Boosting the confidence of several other families like the Singhas, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Assam as part of his campaign trail. While addressing the rally, where people turned up in large numbers, Vajpayee urged the youths in the region to give up guns.

          Political activities are in full swing in Manipur too. The first phase of the filing of nominations for the Outer Manipur Constituency are over, thereby bringing the number of candidates to seven. Morung Makunga, a former MLA, says: "I'm a candidate of the All India Trinamool Congress. My nominations have been accepted and if I win during these elections, though I'm an outer Manipur constituency candidate, I will work for the development of the whole of Manipur." With nominations being filed and elections just a few days to go, political parties are adopting all strategies possible to woo voters. The North East is indeed all geared up for a massive election battle this time.

Marxists' bid to woo non-Bengali voters in Kolkata (Go To Top)
by Gautam Ghosh

          Kolkata: The ruling Marxists in West Bengal have started making desperate efforts to woo the non-Bengali voters in the city with a view to wresting at least two of the three Lok Sabha seats from Trinamul Congress which won the seats in successive elections during the past one decade. The state CPI(M) feels the internal squabbles of Trinamul Congress, which have prompted its sitting MP from Kolkata North-west Sudip Bandopadhyay to contest the polls against the party's official nominee, Subrata Mukherjee, will strengthen the prospects of its candidate, Sudhanshu Sil.

          Similarly, the Congress' decision to field actress Maushami Chatterjee as its candidate for Kolkata North-east, coupled with the dissension in Trinamul Congress nominee Ajit Panja's camp, is expected to help CPI(M) candidate Mohammad Selim. However, since Bengali voters have generally preferred to elect non-left candidates from the three crucial Lok Sabha seats in the city, the Marxists have decided to selectively campaign among the non- Bengali residents like Marwaris, Oriyas and Telugus to ensure the victory of their nominees. The first sign of re-thinking in the state CPI(M) on the question of winning over the non-Bengali voters was apparent from a grand dinner party at Salt Lake in the northern suburbs of the city on Saturday evening. The dinner-cum-cultural function was organized by the Rajasthani business community and was attended by important industrialists like Kamal Gandhi and Bharat Jain and a host of CPI(M) leaders, including former chief minister Jyoti Basu, finance minister Asim Dasgupta, transport minister Subhas Chakraborty and the party's candidate for the Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat, Amitabha Nandi.

           Gandhi later admitted to media persons that the get-together aimed at bringing the Rajasthani community closer to the CPI(M). It was clear from the industrialist's contention as well subsequent speeches made by Basu and other CPI(M) leaders that they expected the Marwaris, living in the area, not to vote for the BJP's nominee for Dum Dum and Union minister of state for small-scale industries Tapan Sikdar but support Nandi. "We earlier used to think that the Marwari community is against us. But today we have realized that our idea was wrong," Basu said at the dinner. The veteran politburo member made a similar observation at a function organized by the Oriya-speaking people in the city on Sunday to observe the 69th "Utkal Dibas." Basu came down heavily on the NDA government "for depriving the eastern states like West Bengal and Orissa of their dues" and spoke about the "cultural bond" between the people of the two states. Both Basu and Left Front chairman Biman Bose utilized the occasion to launch the CPI(M)'s poll campaign among the Oriya-speaking people. The meeting was also attended by Sil, the CPI(M) candidate for Kolkata North-west. Manorama Mahapatra, editor of "Samaj," described Basu as a "friend of the people of Orissa."

          According to informed sources, the state CPI(M) intends to undertake a similar kind of campaign among the people speaking different south Indian languages. Hundreds of people of south Indian origin live in south Kolkata as well as Kharagpur in Midnapore district. The Marxists feel their votes may be a deciding factor in the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls in the concerned constituencies and intend to spare no efforts to woo them before the state goes to polls on May 10. The CPI(M)'s desperation to strengthen its vote-bank among different language groups seems to be the logical fallout of the tough stand adopted by the Election Commission to prevent electoral malpractices. Afzal Amanullah, the poll panel's special observer for West Bengal, has already earned the Marxists' displeasure by equating the state with Bihar as far as poll rigging is concerned. While Amanullah's plain-speaking has served as a morale booster for mainline opposition parties like Trinamul Congress, Congress and the BJP, the CPI(M) and other Left Front partners have started criticizing him for "going beyond his jurisdiction." Political observers here believe the poll results in the state will depend a great deal on the manner in which the Election Commission conducts the polls.