YSR elected CLP leader, to take over as CM on May 15

         Hyderabad: YS Rajshekhar Reddy was unanimously chosen as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Andhra Pradesh here today. He will be sworn in as the next chief minister of the state on May 15. Reddy's taking over as CM from N. Chandrababu Naidu of the TDP was a foregone conclusion after the Congress stormed to power in the Assembly elections on Tuesday. He is also considered close to 10 Janpath. A doctor-turned-politician, Reddy first entered the State Assembly in 1978 after Rajiv Gandhi `handpicked' him amid severe factionlism in the party's state unit. Son of the once famous state leader YS Raja Reddy, Rajshekhar hails from the Rayalseema region. An "old friend" of Naidu, he opposed the hike in power tarriff in 2000. During the past one-and-a-half years, Reddy undertook padyatras of at least 1600 km, criss-crossing the state. He addressed more than 700 public rallies across the state while fighting for the cause of farmers.

         According to an estimate, more than 3000 farmers committed suicide in different parts of the state due to poverty and their inability to pay back their loans. On Tuesday after the final assembly results were declared, Reddy crediting the common man in Andhra Pradesh for the Congress Party's landslide victory over the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). He told reporters last evening that the Naidu regime was ousted by an anti-incumbency factor. This decisive victory, he added had sent a message across to Naidu that his policy of doling out the goodies for only five per cent of the state's population was a draconian mistake. He was particularly severe on the outgoing TDP's agricultural policy that had led to a high incidence of suicides among farmers and to drought-like conditions in the agricultural belt, particularly in the Telangana region. "We stand committed to their (the peoples') development, to mitigate their sufferings. Mr. Naidu only made five percent of the population richer. We raised the farmers' issue in the assembly, and Naidu ignored it," Reddy said.

          The final tally is as follows: INC -185 TDP - 47 TRS - 26 IND - 09 CPM - 09 CPI - 06 NIM - 04 BJP - 02

          The results of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls were declared two days earlier than the rest of the country. Early counting was ordered in Andhra Pradesh as the new government has to be in place by May 13, when the six-month deadline of the caretaker TDP government ends. The state assembly was dissolved on November 14 last year, following TDP government's decision to go for early polls. The move was apparently to capitalize on perceived public sympathy in the wake of an abortive assassination bid on Naidu by Naxalites in October last year.

Anxious BJP top brass to meet again (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Anxious leaders of the BJP and the NDA are likely to meet again today to take stock of political developments arising out of the landslide defeat of the BJP-TDP alliance in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. The top brass of the BJP met at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's residence for several hours on Tuesday night to discuss the political situation. The state that sends 42 members to the Lok Sabha is politically very significant and Tuesday's results don't bode well for the ruling coalition, coming as they do, just two days before the counting for the Lok Sabha begins. And as it looks to stay in power at the Centre, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has now several sleepless nights ahead. The hunt for allies has begun and even though party president M.Venkaiah Naidu put up a brave front, privately, he now admits that a clear majority for the NDA increasingly looks like a distant dream. "We may not get a comfortable majority of over 300 in Parliament but I am confident that in the end we will get the majority," Naidu was quoted by a television channel as saying. "The result was not up to our expectations. It was a vote for change. Chandrababu Naidu did his best and we humbly accept the verdict and we stand by Naidu," Naidu said after Tuesday night's meeting.

Today NDA is a group of nine parties only (Go To Top)
by Pankaj Yadav

          New Delhi: Name the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and pats come the reply - it is a group of 22-24 political parties. But, no it's far less than that. Would you believe that as on date the Alliance is a conglomerate of only nine political parties, and has 280 seats in the Lok Sabha, just eight seats more than the magic figure of 272. BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar said: "Aaj ka NDA sirf nine political parties (today the NDA is made of nine political parties). Over the past five years, he said, the NDA saw many changes. Many political parties came in and went out of this Alliance, which was initially a group of 24 parties. Among the major parties which left the NDA over the years are - National Conference, Indian National Lok Dal, DMK, Lok Janshakti. According to Javdekar, today the NDA is comprised of - BJP (182), JD-U (21), AIADMK (10), BJD (10) Akali Dal (2), Shiv Sena (15), TDP (29), the Trinamool Congress (8) and a regional party in Mizoram.

Re-poll in 31 polling booths across W Bengal (Go To Top)

          Kolkata: A re-poll took place on Wednesday in 31 polling booths across West Bengal. Voter turnout was seen low as many people found it difficult to arrive at the polling stations on a working day. The state opposition Congress party and the Nationalist Trinamool Congress (NTC) party, an ally of federal ruling coalition, had asked for a re-poll alleging booth-jamming and rigging in some polling booths by the state's ruling Left Front. However, some of the voters felt that the re-poll was not necessary. "There has been no trouble, no report of violence. This repolling is being done without any valid reason. The authorities didn't ask for our identity card, we did not show it to them. We have identity cards but nobody asked for it. We are poor people, we have to give up our day's earnings to cast our votes," Mojit Mondal, a voter said at a polling booth in Kolkata. All the 42 parliamentary constituencies of the state went to polls in the last round of voting on Monday. The NTC, which has aligned with the federal ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, had sought additional security measures on the polling day fearing rigging and bogus voting. Clashes between supporters of the Left Front and the NTC were reported during Monday's poll. The Left Front, which came to power in 1977 on a platform of promising land to the tillers, is the world's longest-serving, democratically-elected communist government. The communists, credited by analysts with implementing vigorous land reforms and maintaining communal peace at a time of heightened religious tensions in India, stand out in a country where a fickle electorate brings frequent changes in governments. Counting will be held on Thursday, with a result expected later in the day.

Repolling gets under way in 13 Tamil Nadu LS seats (Go To Top)

          Chennai: Repolling in 30 booths in 13 of the 39 parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu began at 7 a.m. today amidst tight security, officials sources here said. Repolling was being held in 19 booths in 12 constituencies, due to the malfunctioning of the Electronic Voting Machines. In 11 booths, under the Karur constituency, a repoll was ordered as the presiding officers permitted persons, whose names had been deleted from the electoral rolls, to vote on May 10.