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Jogi's suspension revoked, to contest from Mahasamund (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday revoked the suspension of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and fielded him to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Mahasamund against former Union Minister and BJP candidate Vidya Charan Shukla. Though Jogi's name did not figure in the fifth list of 61 candidates from 11 states released by the party, Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal and Chattisgarh PCC chief Motilal Vora separately announced that Jogi would be the party's candidate in Mahsamund. Ujwala S Shinde, wife of Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, CWC members Mahavir Prasad and Meira Kumar, Satish Sharma, Narain Singh - the Rajasthan PCC chief, and Pratap Singh Khachariavas, the nephew of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat have been cleared by the Congress to contest the coming Lok Sabha polls. Jogi, whose suspension was revoked by the party, has been directed by the leadership to contest from Mahasamund in Chattisgarh against former Union Minister and BJP candidate Vidya Charan Shukla. Shinde's wife will contest from Sholapur, Mahavir Prasad and Meira Kumar from Bansgaon in UP and Sasaram (SC) in Bihar, once represented by Kumar's father Jagjiwan Ram. The list was released by party spokesman Kapil Sibal at a press briefing here. Satish Sharma, who vacated his Rae Bareli seat for Congress president Sonia Gandhi, will seek election from Sultanpur. While Narain Singh has been fielded from Sikar, a constituency earlier represented by former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar, Khachariavas has been asked to contest from the prestigious Jaipur seat.

Additional security for Sonia, Rahul (Go To Top)

          Amethi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi will be guarded by a 800-member strong team of the Special Core Group during their election campaigns in Amethi and Rae Bareli. "In view of the threats to the Gandhi family, the additional security has been provided," sources said. The team, which had a meeting with Rahul on Tuesday to assess his security needs, will guard every election rally during the ongoing campaign in Amethi. "These men will provide security not only to the Gandhi clan but also to their close relatives during the election campaign,'' sources added. The security team will also have a separate dress code to distinguish them from Sonia's.

Advani begins second leg of his rath yatra (Go To Top)

         Porbandar: Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani began the second leg of his nation-wide campaigning on Tuesday from Porbandar. This is the second phase of the 75-year old's much-publicised chariot ride to highlight his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's achievements. Advani's 16-day ride, analysts say, is also aimed at reinforcing his energetic image and position as heir-apparent to 70-year old Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. "The second phase of the India shining campaign begins today and it will end in April. This is the first coincidence that today is Ram Navmi and I am here paying respects to Gandhi," Advani told a public gathering, which he addressed along with Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

         Advani, who is considered as hardliner, however, did not mention the BJP's roots in strident Hindu nationalism-Hindutva-which the party is trying to downplay as it reaches out to the middle ground and sticks close to its more moderate coalition partners. Advani shot to fame in 1990 when he led a nationwide rath yatra, or chariot ride, to campaign for the construction of a Ram temple in place of a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya. That issue helped propel the BJP to power in 1998, but since then the reality of coalition politics has seen the party put many of its Hindu revivalist themes on hold.

Hardwar: BJP in for tough fight (Go To Top)

          Hardwar: The BJP, a dominant force in Haridwar town of Uttaranchal, is in for a tough fight in next month's national elections as locals complain of non-performance. Hardwar, one of the holiest cities, is characterized by saffron-clad saints and foreigners who throng the hermitages along the banks of the river Ganges. With a population less than a million, the town is constantly packed to its seams as thousands of pilgrims and devotees move in and out of it everyday. Despite its international prominence, the tiny city lacks development and has narrow lanes, dirty market places and overcrowded houses. The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which has represented the region in the last three national polls, however, claims it has done enough development work.

           "People of Hardwar are feeling good. We have constructed as many as 17 roads under the Prime Minister's village roads scheme. We have given so many telephone connections under the WLL (Wireless in Local Loop), also cellular phones are becoming quite popular. Everybody is feeling good. We have also provided drinking water ," Harpal Satthi, the BJP's former lawmaker, said. Another burning issue for the region has been cleaning of the Ganges, the most polluted river in the world. The hugely-funded Ganga action plan being a total faliure, authorities have not come up with any scheme for the dying river, leading to much ire amongst the locals, who depend on it as their sole water source. The Congress party, which heads the state government, says enough funds have been provided to the region and blamed the former lawmaker for misusing them.

         "Whatever little development work Sathi (Harpal Sathi) carried out in Haridwar, his aim was to benefit his own favourites. He gave out government contracts to his own contractors and agencies, despite the fact that most of them are blacklisted," said Congress party's candidate Purshottam Sharma. The locals said the BJP's nation-wide "feel good" campaign did not match the ground realities of the constituency. "There is no feel good here. This is just a poll plank of the BJP. Nobody is really feeling good. During every election BJP raises issues like Ram Mandir, they do not have any issues of development," Ram Naresh, a resident, said.

          Besides the BJP and the Congress, the regional Bahujan Samaj Party and the state's ruling Samajwadi Party candidates are also in the poll fray. This will be the first national election for Haridwar after it got annexed to Uttaranchal, carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000. The region, historically and culturally different from the rest of the hilly state, has been demanding a special status as a federally administered territory. Uttaranachal's five constituencies will vote on May 10.

BJP spells out priorities in vision document (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), widely tipped to win next month's national polls, said on Tuesday it planned to accelerate the pace of reforms in Asia's third largest economy. "We want to make India as an economic superpower. For this we want to launch second green revolution. The major thrust of this government is going to be village, rural development, agricultural development and then eradication of poverty, eradication of illiteracy, ending urban rural divide. Taking the fruits of IT (Information Technology) to rural area to villages, making India global manufacturing hub, making India a service provider to the world," the BJP president Venkaiah Naidu told reporters while releasing the party's vision document here. The BJP, which has largely shed its traditional protectionist mindset in favour of liberalisation, also said it was committed to furthur reducing the role of the government in manufacturing and services sector. The BJP, which heads a diverse coalition of some 20 parties, said it believed "in a responsible fiscal regime", marked by modest deficits, low inflation and a steadily strengthening rupee."