Mumbai:
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti was reported
to be stable, a day after being admitted to a city hospital
in Nasik "chest pain". Reports reaching here said that she
had been discharged from the Raje Bahadur Hospital, after
a check up this morning. "Her pulse rate and blood pressure
were normal but she had backache and leg pain as she is
suffering from spondilytis," Atul Jain, Bharti's advisor,
was quoted a telling the media outside the hospital. Bharti,
is arriving at Bombay Hospital here for further consultations
and treatment. Informed sources said that she has been advised
rest. On Thursday, Bharti addressed poll rallies at Aurangabad
and was due to attend an election meeting of Union Petroleum
Minister Ram Naik at Dahisar when she complained of "chest
pain" while flying over the village of Akole in Ahmednagar
district. The chopper made an emergency landing and Bharti
was taken by road to the Nasik hospital.
It's
a triangular fight among Congress, SAD, BSP in Ropar (Go
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Ropar:
Ropar goes to polls on April 26, the second phase of
the ongoing general elections. The main fight for the parliamentary
seat is between sitting MP Shamsher Singh Dullo of the Congress,
Sukhdev Singh Libra of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and
Man Singh Manhera of the BSP. The town is located at about
45 km from state capital Chandigarh. The Lok Sabha seat
here is reserved for SC candidates. This year's elections
would see about 13,44,027 voters participating in the polling
process in this constituency that spans over 9 assembly
segments. Dullo is asking for a re-election based on issues
like unemployment, development and his party's secular credentials.
The
Akali Dal (Badal) candidate Sukhdev Singh Libra, a Rajya
Sabha member and a Tohra loyalist, has been given the ticket
by Badal so as to placate the Tohra group. Libra is busy
campaigning to woo voters. During campaigns Libra promises
to start all sops that were scrapped by Punjab's Congress
regime during its over two-year rule in Punjab, if he is
elected. Manhera, a veteran BSP leader and party candidate,
has never won the Ropar Lok Sabha seat. But this time round
he says that the tide is against Akalis and the Congress,
who have done nothing for the backward classes in the constituency.
Addressing small corner meetings to woo voters, he says
that the BSP strategy to launch candidates of castes other
than backwards would help his party in Punjab.
In the past, the parliamentary seat has been either in the
control of the SAD or the Congress. In 1996 an Akali candidate
won the seat, while the Congress was runner up. In 1998
again Akalis won, and BSP was runner up; the Congress had
not put a candidate in 1998. And in 1999 Shamsher Singh
Dullo of the Congress had defeated the Akali Dal (Badal)
candidate by a margin of 77,381 votes. But, that was when
the Tohra and Badal factions were at war. In the ongoing
election both have re-united. But Dullo feels that despite
the fact that the Akali Dal (Badal) and Akali Dal (Tohra)
have re-united, Tohra loyalists in Ropar would take out
their ire on Badal by voting against the Akali Dal (Badal)
candidate. This he says would happen because Tohra loyalists
are certain that Tohra died because of the mental torture
unleashed by Badal against Tohra.
Rahul
campaigns in Varanasi (Go
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Varanasi:
Rahul Gandhi, heir of the Nehru-Gandhi family, campaigned
for his party the Congress, here Friday. Rahul, a party's
candidate from Amethi, has been made the in- charge of party
affairs for eastern Uttar Pradesh. The locals welcomed him
with great love and warmth. They said they were waiting
that a member from the Nehru-Gandhi family, comes among
them. "It was our desire that a member of the Gandhi family
comes here. It has been fulfilled today by the coming of
Rahul Gandhi. Every Muslim in Uttar Pradesh and in the entire
country is with him. Our blessings are with him," Rafiq
Ahmed, an old Muslim voter said. A Hindu voter termed Thursday's
summer showers as an auspicious sign for Rahul's electoral
fortunes. "Rains are very important for success. If any
person ventures out for an auspicious work and it rains,
then that person will definitely be successful," Rajesh
Tiwari, a resident of Varanasi, said.
Smriti,
Sibal file nominations (Go
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New
Delhi: BJP's Smriti Irani and Congress candidate Kapil
Sibal from the Chandnichowk Lok Sabha constituency filed
their nomination papers here Friday. The seat is likely
to witness a direct contest between Smriti and Sibal with
Janata Dal (S) candidate Shoaib Iqbal opted out of the race.
His withdrawal has strengthened the Congress' position since
the constituency has a large concentration of Muslim voters.
Shoaib said he was withdrawing his nomination because he
did not want to split the "secular" votes. His candidature
in 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha polls had led to division of
Muslim votes and defeat of Congress. Meanwhile, after filing
her nomination, BJP candidate and popular TV actress Smriti
Irani lambasted her detractors for labelling her an "outsider",
saying she had spent most of her life in the Capital. Now
based in Mumbai, Irani promised to shift permanently to
Delhi if elected to the Lok Sabha.
Three
commandos killed in Manipur ambush (Go
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Imphal:
At least three police commandos were killed and one
seriously injured in an ambush by Manipur ultras at Khordak
area in Bishenpur district here Friday. According to official
sources, the ambush took place Thursday evening when commandos
attached to Imphal police station went to Khordak following
reports that insurgents were telling villagers not to cast
their votes in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls in the
state on April 26. When the commandos reached the spot,
about 35 kms from here, they were fired upon from highly
sophisticated weapons by about 20 insurgents, the sources
said adding that the security men retaliated forcing the
insurgents to retreat into the nearby jungles. The commandos
chased them and were faced with fresh firing and blasting
of powerful grenades. As the gunbattle intensified, police
and Assam Rifles teams led by SSP (Imphal West) S. Ibomcha
Singh were rushed to the spot to join forces. The commandos
were killed instantly in the exchange of fire that lasted
for several hours.
The insurgents escaped into dense jungles after about four
hours and casualty, if any on their side, was not known.
While the police continued their search operation in the
area, no arrests were made so far, the sources said. The
sources said while the identity of the insurgents was yet
to be known, separatist UNLF (United National Liberation
Front) had earlier called for complete boycott of the Lok
Sabha polls in the state to help intensify its movement.
Campaigning for third phase of polls to
end on Saturday (Go
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New
Delhi: Campaigning for the third phase of elections
to 137 Lok Sabha constituencies in 11 states will end at
5 p.m. on Saturday evening. Up for grabs are 32 constituencies
in Uttar Pradesh, 24 in Maharashtra, 21 in Andhra Pradesh,
17 in Bihar, 13 in Karnataka, 10 in Orissa, eight each in
Assam and Jharkhand, two in Goa and one each in Manipur
and Jammu and Kashmir. The April 26 polls will also cover
the second and final phase of assembly elections in 147
of 294 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, 104 out of 224
seats in Karnataka and 70 out of 147 seats in Orissa. Polls
for 140 seats were held on April 20 and for two seats in
Tripura on April 22. The last two rounds will be held on
May 5 and May 10. Counting will be taken up on May 13. Prominent
personalities, whose fate would be decided on April 26,
include Congress President Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli,
Rahul Gandhi from Amethi and several Union Ministers, including
Defence Minister George Fernandes (Muzaffarpur) and Civil
Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy who takes on former
Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Pradas Yadav in Chapra.
Orissa
fishermen threaten to boycott polls (Go
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Kendrapara
(Orissa): The fishing community here has threatened
to boycott the national polls if the authorities did not
lift a ban on fishing during April-November. Half of Orissa's
21 constituencies voted on Tuesday and 10 more are slated
for the second phase of polling on April 26. The Orissa
Marine Fishing Regulation Act 1980 restricts any trawler
from operating off the coast during the fish-breeding season
from April to November. In 1997, the state government banned
fishing within 20 kilometers off the coast to protect the
marine life. More than 10,000 fishermen living in this area
have decided to boycott polls. "We will not vote for anyone
until they solve our problems. Otherwise we will boycott
the elections. We have decided to do that," Tushar Kant
Sarkar, a fisherman said.
The
district authorities say the ban was necessary to protect
marine wealth. Kendrapara District Collector Hemant Sharma
said that the fishermen should also explore land-based resources
for their livelyhood. "We have abundant land-based resources
in the (Kendrapara) district. In fact we have the largest
concentration of creeks and rivers in our district. There
is a need to turn people's economic attention towards these
resources and provide them help through training and other
services etc, which is being done. It's a long term process,
it will take time. Fishermen depending on these limited
resources should try them," Sharma said.
NDA
to remain, whatever the outcome may be: Advani (Go
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On
Board Special Aircraft: Deputy Prime Minister has said
that his party the BJP will continue alliance with its present
partners even if voted back to power with absolute majority.
"Even if we get a majority, even if the BJP (Bharatiya Janata
Party) wins with a majority...in that case also we will
govern as an alliance, as NDA (federal ruling National Democratic
Alliance). Our last six years of experience in government
has taught us that taking the regional parties into the
federal setup instills in them a sense of nationalism and
for us, working together with them gives an understanding
of their regional aspirations," Advani said Friday on board
aircraft while on his way to Pune for an election rally.
Advani
said that the Congress lacked formidable leadership. "Their
(Congress') leadership is confused. I believe that the biggest
problem with the Congress today is their leadership. There
is no other issue," he elaborated. The NDA coalition had
won 306 seats in the 1999 election, comfortably higher than
the 273 required to rule. Analysts say that the BJP-led
coalition would still be the best placed to form a government
by attracting smaller parties to its fold despite pressures
from them on key reforms such as labour laws. Asserting
the importance of taking regional parties into the manifold,
Advani said last six years of governing a country as vast
and diverse as India had made them understand the functional
necessity of a coalition.
