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VP Singh's call to support Congress

          New Delhi: Former Prime Minister V.P.Singh who once fought a bitter battle with the Congress is now asking people to vote for the Congress. While addressing a press conference here on Monday he said that Gujarat was the last straw and it has revealed the true colours of the NDA. "I and Congress have fought each other for quite long years. And we have fought each other to our heart's content. But after Gujarat, I have seen their (BJP) real fascist face. It is our duty to stop these forces from coming to power," said Singh. Referring to the recent statements made by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee asking people to vote for NDA for a stable government, Singh said it is the Congress which has always provided stable governments, whereas BJP-led governments have fallen on various occasions. "As far as stable government is concerned, Congress has provided the maximum number of stable governments. Congres government has never fallen in between. It has always completed full term. So what is their special claim about stability?," aske Singh.

           The former Prime minister also took on the BJP for their India Shining and feel good factor. Singh said, the entire India Shining campaign is about figures and not people. "People are missing (in their India Shining). We have got foreign exchange, we have got sensex, GDP, but they are not talking about farmers, weavers and common man," said Singh. Terming the foreign origin issue of Sonia Gandhi as rubbish, V P Singh said that there cannot be two types of citizenship. Once a person becomes citizen of the country he has every right to assume any post. Otherwise, the political parties should make a provision that such persons are not given citizenship at all. Singh, who undergoes dialysis thrice in a week, opined that political parties should concentrate on some other issues rather than citing this issue.

CPM wary of 'secret entente' (Go To Top)
by Gautam Ghosh

          Kolkata: With just a week left for the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal, the ruling Marxists appear worried about the possible fallout of what they are describing as "an unofficial electoral understanding" among the mainline Opposition parties like Trinamul Congress, Congress and the BJP. Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chairman Subhas Ghisingh's decision to support the Congress candidate from Darjeeling, Dawa Narbula, has only added to the CPI(M)'s concern as the party was expecting Ghisingh's backing for its nominee. Another major source of worry for the Marxists is the tough stand adopted by the Election Commission to prevent malpractices in the May 10 polls. The CPI(M) has, therefore, decided to fall back on its loyalists among the police and administrative officials as well as its organizational super-structure to ensure smooth- sailing of its nominees.

          State CPI(M) leaders have taken pains to point out how the Congress and Trinamul Congress have been "secretly helping each other in the run-up to the elections." The Marxists have named a number of constituencies where their candidates are virtually facing a direct challenge either from the Congress or from the Trinamul Congress-BJP combine. The constituencies include three Lok Sabha seats in Murshidabad district, Malda, Barrackpore and Dum Dum in North 24 Parganas, Jadavpur and Joynagar in South 24 Parganas, Nabadwip and Krishnanagar in Nadia, Asansol in Burdwan and Bankura.

         In Murshidabad, for instance, Trinamul Congress has fielded a very weak candidate, Shis Mohammad, for Jangipur where state Congress chief Pranab Mukherjee has been putting up a tough fight against sitting CPI(M) MP Abul Hasnat Khan. Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee replaced Madan Mitra, her close associate and the party's general secretary, with Mohammad, a former RSP legislator, as the candidate for Jangipur after the Congress finalized Mukherjee's candidature for the crucial seat.

           In Berhampore the re-election of sitting Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury is almost a fait accompli as her opponents include an RSP nominee and a BJP lightweight. Trinamul Congress candidate for the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat Mohammad Ali is believed to be "hand-in-gloves with Mannan Hossain, the Congress nominee, who earlier belonged to Mamata Banerjee's party.

          At Malda most of the Trinamul Congress functionaries, including chairman of the Englishbazar municipality Krishnendu Chowdhury, have been campaigning for veteran Congress leader A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury, leaving the BJP candidate, Badshah Alam, in the lurch. The Marxists have also been keeping their fingers crossed at Dum Dum and Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas because of a "tacit entente" among their political opponents.

          In Dum Dum, where union minister of state for small-scale industries and BJP nominee Tapan Sikdar is seeking re-election, the Congress has fielded a little-known party worker, Tapas Majumdar, presumably "to prevent a major split in anti-CPI(M) votes." At Barrackpore too Congress candidate Debi Ghoshal has failed to make his presence felt, thereby paving the way for a direct contest between Arjun Singh, a local Trinamul Congress legislator, and Tarit Topdar, the sitting CPI(M) MP. X

          Similarly, in South 24 Parganas the Congress has fielded a political lightweight, Om Prakash Mishra, against Trinamul Congress' Krishna Bose, thereby making CPI(M) nominee Sujan Chakraborty's task difficult. At Joynagar in the same district the Congress has not put up any candidate and remained content simply by extending its support to a Republican Party of India candidate who has hardly any following.

          The Congress' decision is naturally expected to help the BJP's candidate in his fight against the CPI(M). Trinamul Congress candidate for Nabadwip in Nadia district, Nilima Nag, also appears better-placed to fight the CPI(M) in view of the presence of a Congress nominee who does not wield any influence in the locality. The same is the story in Krishnanagar, Asansol and Bankura. The GNLF chief's support to the Congress nominee in his stronghold has come to the CPI(M) as a bolt from the blue. Last time Ghisingh had indirectly helped the Marxists to retain the Darjeeling seat by his poll boycott call, directing the hill people not to exercise their franchise. Ghisingh's move enabled the CPI(M) to win the seat with the support of voters from the plains. According to informed sources, the GNLF leader has now realized the negative fallout of his poll boycott call which alienated a section of the hill people.

         The West Bengal Marxists have also not taken kindly to the poll panel's tough measures to ensure a free and fair election on May 10 and described its decision to bring polling personnel from other states as "an affront to the state government employees." The CPI(M) is wary of the impact of the Election Commission's measures on the Opposition parties which expect a larger turnout at the booths to "defeat the CPI(M)'s strong-arm tactic on the poll day." The state CPI(M) leadership, however, has directed the cadre to keep their cool and not to take a confrontationist stand which may invite further action from the poll panel.