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Actress Soundarya killed in air crash

          Bangalore: A leading South Indian actress and three others were killed on Saturday when their aircraft crashed soon after taking off for an election rally. Actress Soundarya, who was campaigning for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition, was on her way from Bangalore to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh with her brother, a party official and the pilot. People who saw the crash said they tried to rescue the passengers but the helicopter blasted. Famous actress Soundarya and her brother Amarnath and another senior leader of our party were killed alongwith the pilot. The cause of the crash could not immediately be ascertained, police said. Both the BJP and the Congress party have roped in a galaxy of film stars to campaign or contest for their parties in parliamentary elections for which voting begins from Tuesday. Surveys ahead of the first round of voting in a month-long general election predict a clear win for the BJP-led coalition.

'I am still in poll fray', says Jethmalani (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: A day after announcing his withdrawal from the Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency against Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Congress-backed Ram Jethmalani today declared that he would remain in the fray. "No one has any authority to withdraw my candidature from the parliamentary election. I remain a contesting candidate," the noted Supreme Court lawyer said in a letter to the returning officer Lucknow, copies of which were circulated in Delhi by Congress and his associate Swami Agnivesh, former MP.

Congress for rejection of Vajpayee papers (Go To Top)

          Lucknow: The Congress party has decided to observe Black Day on April 19 throughout Uttar Pradesh to protest violation of the model code of conduct by BJP leader Lalji Tandon, who held saree distribution programme on Monday where a stampede killed 22 women. Processions and dharnas will be held in all districts and a memorandum addressed to President A P J Abdul Kalam seeking his mediation to get cases registered against the guilty and nomination papers of Prime Minister A B Vajpayee rejected, Congress' election incharge of UP, Sanjay Singh and spokesman Akhilesh Singh said. Sanjay Singh said Vajpayee should himself opt out of the fray on moral grounds and an inquiry should be ordered to find out as to who funded the saree distribution programme on Tandon's birthday celebration in which the organisers allegedly spent about RS 50 lakh. XX

          The Prime Minister who had rushed to Lucknow to console the families of those killed in the stampede during the saree distribution programme, has remained silent over the Election Commission's indictment of his pointsman in Lucknow and this is very surprising", Akhlish Singh said. He said the prime minister's appeal to Ram Jethmalani to withdraw from poll fray against him comes under the purview of 123 (2) of the Representation of the People Act of putting undue influence on opponents. The Congress leaders said BJP should also issue a statement on EC's decision to serve a notice to the party.

Campaigning for first phase of polls ends on Sunday (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Campaigning for the first phase of polling on April 20 in 140 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 16 states and Union Territories and the Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Sikkim ends on Sunday. The prominent personalities involved in this phase of polling include Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, who is contesting from Gandhinagar, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda from Kanakapura in Karnataka, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar from Barh and Nalanda constituencies in Bihar, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, S. Jaipal Reddy from Miryalaguda in Andhra Pradesh, Shankarsinh Waghela from Kapadvanj in Gujarat and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi from Mahasamund. Among the others whose electoral fortunes will be decided on April 20 are Yerran Naidu (TDP) from Srikakulam, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya (BJP) from Secunderabad and Renuka Choudhury (Congress) from Khammam.

Sidhu confident of victory  (Go To Top)
by Ravinder Singh Robin

          Wagah: BJP nominee from Amritsar constituency Navjot Singh Sidhu on joining the party, said he was a disciplined sepoy of the party and he had to abide by the orders of the high command. He said his existence and recognition was with the party ."I am not a separate entity" said he. He said he gave a nod to contest from Amritsar only after convincing himself that he would be able to win the hearts of people. He also tried to convince that he was not an outsider in the constituency as being dubbed by many. "Am I not a Punjabi" questioned he.

           Later Sidhu addressed his maiden press conference after announcement of his name as BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Amritsar at Wagah border after arriving from Pakistan on Saturday. An emotional Sidhu announced that if the people of Amritsar expressed faith in him, he would never go back to Patiala adding that he didn't make false promises. " Jo kaha hai soch samajh kar keh raha hun" said he. Former BJP minister Baldev Raj Chawla, , Rajinder Bhandari, state general secretary, Parshant Arora, organizing secretary, Manjit Singh Rai, election incharge ,Amritsar rural, Raminder Singh Bulari, Tarun Chugh,SAD district president (urban) Sardool Sham, Arun Khann, Bajrang Dal, Avinash Rai, RSS and a large number of BJP and SAD workers had arrived at Wagah to receive Sidhu who took him to Amritsar in a procession.

Maoists threaten to kill voters (Go To Top)

          Chandauli (UP): Maoist-prone regions of Uttar Pradesh are on high alert after insurgents threatened to kill those who vote in the upcoming polls. Three districts-Chandauli, Sonbhadra, and Mirzapur bordering Bihar and Jharkhand--are the prime targets. Leaflets, giving out death threats to those who plan to vote, have been pasted on trees or dropped on busy village roads. State authorities have swung into action and heavily-armed police and paramilitary personnel have fanned out to the sensitive areas. Uttar Pradesh, which sends a maximum 80 lawmakers to parliament will poll across three phases on April 26, May 5 and May 10. Devraj Nagar, inspector general of police, Varanasi, said they were trying to ensure foolproof security.

Yet another Tamil Nadu village threatens poll boycott (Go To Top)

          Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu): Fed up with hollow promises, a southern village has threatened to boycott the upcoming national polls. Kavunji village lies in the lap of Kodaikanal, a famous tourist spot, known for its cloud-kissing mountains and evergreen tea gardens. But development has skirted the village where good roads and power connections are just dreams for the mainly agrarian population. Kavunji has decided to join the growing band of villages threatening poll boycott to highlight their plight. Villagers said they would vote only for those candidates who would give it in writing that they would keep their promises. Ironically, Tamil Nadu is one of developed states and is self- reliant in power generation.