Rahul Gandhi to interact with UP leaders via video conferencing

The Gandhi scion, hard pressed for time owing to his election campaigns elsewhere in the country, decided to take the electronic route for crucial interaction, sources said.

Apart from wishing party workers on the occasion of Holi, the festival of colours, the Congress leader will evaluate the election preparations during his interaction with a selected group of 125 party leaders.

Besides offering the party's tickets for the polls, the Congress vice-president will take feedback on the issues faced by the party in the state.

The issues for campaigning for the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state will also be discussed, a party leader said.

During the interaction, conducted from the party headquarters in New Delhi, some senior leaders are expected to request Gandhi to fix time to address rallies in their constituencies.

Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and his mother and Congress president will contest from Rae Bareli. The Congress has 22 members in the outgoing Lok Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

(Agencies)

Source: Online Current News

Close contest between Congress, BJP in Assam

The house of Asom Gana Parishad, which at one time dictated the direction of Assam politics, is in a state of disarray as several of its top leaders have deserted the party to join the BJP.

  

The Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, winning seven seats while its ally the Bodoland Peoples' Party had retained Kokrajhar.

  

The BJP had finished second with four seats while the AGP and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) had won one seat each.

  

The AGP's fortune has been on a downswing ever since it was relegated to third place in the 2011 Assembly poll, mostly on account of the fast-rising AIUDF.

  

The first prominent leader to desert the AGP was former student leader Sarbananda Sonowal, who joined the BJP and went on to become the party's state unit president.

  

He was followed by the party's founder-members and former powerful state ministers Chandramohan Patowary and Hiten Goswami.

  

The defectors alleged that they were forced to leave the party as the rank and file had lost confidence in their founder-president and former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta who, however, refused to step down as party leader.

  

The AGP had finished second in four seats in the last polls, but the going appears to be tough for the regional party with the BJP going all out to consolidate their position in the state with the national leadership paying particular attention to the state.

  

Batting for the BJP, Sonowal said, “People in Assam are fed up with the anti-people policies of the Congress-led government and want to give the BJP a chance at the Centre.”

  

Claiming that there was a distinct Modi wave blowing across the country, Sonowal said, “The BJP will definitely improve its performance in the state riding on the Modi wave and will get more than the four seats it had won in the last LS polls.”

(Agencies)

Source: Breaking News

Raj Thackeray plans to stitch alliance with regional satraps in Maharashtra

As Maharashtra’s assembly election is slated in October this year, Raj wants to make his own third front with the help of state satraps with an aim to hurt political prospects of NDA and UPA as well.

The MNS chief has already completed first round of talks with his counterpart of the Peasants' and Workers' Party (PWP), which has a strong presence in the coastal region of Konkan and has four MLAs in the Maharashtra assembly.

He has also cosied up with Jan Surajya Party (JSP), which has a good influence in various parts of Western Maharashtra having two MLAs, and a member of legislative council in Nasik, Apoorva Hiray.

These small parties are not in a position to field candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, but if they offer support to MNS’ candidates then it could be a hammer-blow to the prospects of both UPA and NDA.

Raj is likely to declare the names of few Lok Sabha candidates from his party on March 9 at the foundation day of MNS.  All these MNS candidates would be those who had garnered more than 1.25 lakh votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

If the MNS succeeds in its mission, it will prove big hurdle for national parties in the assembly elections.

In the 2009 Assembly elections, MNS had fought on 143 out of 288 seats in Maharashtra, winning 13 seats and was successful in stopping BJP-Shiv Sena coalition to form government.

(JPN/Bureau)

Source: Breaking News

LS polls: 4.5 lakh first timers to exercise their franchise in Assam

"The elections in Assam will be held in three phases. We have 1.87 crore people registered in the electoral rolls who can exercise their voting rights to elect 14 representatives," Assam Chief Electoral Officer Vijayendra told reporters in Guwahati.

    

The number of voters this year constitute 57.25 percent of Assam's total population and it has gone up by 13 lakh from 1.74 crore voters in last Lok Sabha elections in 2009, he said.

    

"We published the latest electoral rolls in January this year and the number has increased by 6.6 lakh from the last rolls in January 2013," the CEO said.

       

When asked about the first time voters, Vijayendra said that 4.5 lakh youngsters in the age group of 18-19 years would vote for the first time in the Lok Sabha elections.

   

Talking about the 'D' (doubtful/disputed/dubious) voters, the CEO said that the number stands at around 1.42 lakh in the state.

    

On Election photo identity card (EPIC), he said that Assam will have its first election with such identification system although it already exists in other parts of the country.

    

On being asked about much could be the total expenditure of the three-phase elections in Assam, Vijayendra said, "It is estimated to be around Rs 82 crore. During the last Assembly elections in Assam in 2011, we had spent around Rs 79 crore."     

Speaking about the polling stations, he said that the elections would be held at 24,275 polling stations across the state, which is an increase of 28.93 percent from 18,828 booths in 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Out of these, 7,200 polling stations have been identified as ‘critical’, he said, adding, "The police are working on other categories like sensitive and hyper sensitive polling booths.”

The entire exercise this time would involve around 1.25 lakh people in the state as compared to one lakh people in 2009.

    

The Lok Sabha elections for 14 seats in Assam would be held on April 7, 12 and 24, while counting will take place along with the entire country on May 16.

    

As per the schedule by the Election Commission of India, five constituencies will go for polling in the first phase, while it will be three and six constituencies respectively during the second and third phases of polling in the state.     

Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur constituencies would go for polling in the first phase.

    

Karimganj, Silchar and Autonomous Hill District in second phase, while the elections for the prestigious Guwahati seat along with Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Mangaldai and Nagaon seats would be held in the last phase.

    

On being asked about his area of concern in conducting a free and fair election in Assam, Vijayendra said, "The issues are - there should not be any intimidation to any section of the society and there should not be any money power to influence the voters."

    

The Election Commission ‘will take all care’ by deploying ‘maximum number of forces and observers’ to have fair elections in Assam, he added.

    

He, however, declined to inform how many security personnel or observers would be deployed in Assam during the polling period.

(Agencies)

Source: Latest News

Goa Congress demands removal of state election officer

The party has also demanded that Goa Lok Sabha elections, scheduled on April 17, should be postponed since it is ‘Maundy Thursday - a holy day observed by the Catholic community.

  

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president John Fernandes said that state joint chief electoral officer Narayan Navti was ‘often seen on BJP dais’.

  

He has been sharing dais with BJP candidate Narendra Sawaikar (from South Goa Lok Sabha seat), Fernandes claimed.

  

The Election Commission of India should immediately remove him from the post for free and fair Lok Sabha polls, the Congress leader demanded.

  

The party would be writing to the Election Commission of India pressing for his removal immediately, he said.

  

He also noted that the Election Commission of India’s decision to hold elections in Goa on April 17 was dependent on the advice by its local officer.

  

"The ECI should investigate the conduct of the officer," Fernandes added.

(Agencies)

Source: Latest News

Development will be main plank for LS polls: SAD

The Election Commission on Wednesday announced the date for general elections which will be held from April 7 to May 12 spread over nine days in the highest number of polling days so far involving an electorate of 81.4 crore.

   

Punjab will have a single-day polling on April 30 to elect 13 MPs.

   

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that the SAD-BJP alliance will seek votes for development and people were eager to show the door to the "corrupt" Congress-led UPA.

   

The five-time chief minister alleged "step motherly" treatment with Punjab by the Centre and claimed people wanted to bring NDA back at the helm.

   

"People are fed up with corruption, scams, price rise and step motherly treatment with Punjab. Every section of the society including the farmers wants to show the door to the Congress and are eager to bring back the NDA to power," Badal said.

   

Expressing confidence in the NDA, the 86-year-old leader said people will vote to bring back the NDA government to power at the Centre and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, will become the country's next Prime Minister.

   

Claiming there was a strong "Modi wave" blowing across the country, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said SAD-BJP will "sweep" the polls in Punjab.

   

"The SAD-BJP will create history by winning all 13 Lok Sabha seats as people can easily differentiate between a development-oriented state and a scam-ridden central government," he said.

   

To a question, Sukhbir said that there was no comparison between Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

   

Sukhbir asked people to vote for NDA to defeat Congress party in the Lok Sabha polls, claiming that people were demoralised by rampant corruption, scams and lack of employment opportunities.

   

Sukhbir also said the development of the state had always been a top priority of the SAD-BJP government.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), ruling party in Punjab, on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of Lok Sabha elections date and said development would be the main poll plank for the SAD-BJP alliance, in the upcoming electoral battle.

(Agencies)

Source: Breaking News

Nitish trashes Lalu's charges, says RJD MLAs are welcome to join JD(U)

In Delhi to attend a meeting of non-Congress, non-BJP front, Kumar told reporters that there are differences in Lalu Prasad-led RJD and the party is "on the verge of a split".

   

"As far as JD(U) stand is concerned, if the people come to us, we will welcome them," he said.

   

Dismissing suggestions that the Speaker worked to benefit JD(U), he said, "This is not possible. The Speaker has been given certain powers by the Constitution and he alone can take decisions in certain matters. This is what happened in this issue as well. Nobody can pressurize him," he said.

He said people can discuss technical aspects of the decision as much as they want to but as far as political developments are concerned, RJD is close to a division among its ranks.

   

Kumar, who broke away from NDA over the elevation of Narendra Modi, said he could not see the so-called wave in favour of the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

   

RJD saw a major upheaval on Monday with 13 out of its 22 MLAs quitting the party. But six of them later returned and denied walking away from the party.

   

Earlier in the day, RJD chief Lalu Prasad accused Kumar of hatching a conspiracy to break his party.

   

"Nitish hatched a conspiracy with the speaker to break my party. But, it went wrong and the whole country has seen the conspiracy," Prasad said.

(Agencies)

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Pawar won't merge NCP with Congress before LS polls: Gopinath Munde

"NCP is not even a state-level party but a divisional level outfit having presence only in western Maharashtra," Munde said, speaking to reporters ahead of a rally by top opposition leaders on Sunday evening.

    

"We (opposition) are not willing to take Pawar into our fold. So that leaves Pawar no other option but to go with Congress," Munde said.

    

"The opposition alliance is united and our only objective is to dislodge the Congress-NCP government," Munde said.

    

After RPI leader Ramdas Athawale takes oath as Rajya Sabha member, his party will join NDA and he would be invited for all meetings of the BJP-led front at Centre, Munde said.

    

Similarly,  Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, led by Lok Sabha member Raju Shetty, will also be a part of NDA soon, the senior BJP leader said

    

To a query on police booking Athawale over Indu mill violence, Munde said, "This is an attempt to silence the voice of opposition. We won't be cowed down by such tactics."

    

On reports of differences among the alliance partners over Madha Lok Sabha seat (where Pawar won in 2009), Munde said the issue would be sorted out amicably.

    

"The Mahayuti's seat distribution will be finalised by this month-end," he said.

    

Rashtriya Samaj Party leader Mahadeo Jankar, a part of the Mahayuti, said he wanted to contest from Madha, but "some people in the alliance have hatched a conspiracy against me".

"However, I joined the alliance because of my faith in Munde and will abide by whatever he says," Jankar added.

(Agencies)

Source : Latest News

BJP to invoke 'Gujarati pride' to win maximum LS seats

The saffron oufit is set to unleash a campaign from Tuesday, going to the people to make a plea and invoking pride of having a Gujarati as a possible Prime Minister of the country,

BJP spokesperson Harshad Patel said.

   

The party has coined slogans like "fulse apdi chhati jyare vadapradhan hase ek Gujarati (there will be pride in our hearts when one Gujarati will be PM)' and "Let us make Narendrabhai our PM."

   

Though BJP scored impressive victories in the consecutive Assembly elections, when it came to Lok Sabha polls, the party remained neck-and-neck with the Congress.

   

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 14 seats while the Congress had bagged 12 out of the total 26 in the state. In 2009, the Congress had won 11 while BJP emerged victorious on 15 seats.

On the contrary, during Assembly elections held in 2002, 2007 and 2012, people gave a thumping majority to BJP. Now, in a bid to win maximum number of Lok Sabha seats from the home state of Modi, poll campaign managers of the Gujarat BJP have decided to bank upon "performance, popularity and pride" factors.

   

"Though we do not personally know Satya Nedella, who has been made the CEO of Microsoft, we take pride in the fact that he is an Indian. In the same way, Gujaratis, who are not associated with the BJP, also are taking pride in the fact that one among them could become the prime minister of the country," Patel said.

   

"Pride has been associated with our earlier leaders who made it big on national level, like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Morarji Desai," he said.

   

"Even some of those associated with the Congress have told us privately that it would be great to have a Gujarati as the PM of the country," he further said.

   

"From today we are going to people with our programme 'dhandan' (donation), for which a slogan has been coined - 'Ek Vote Kamal pe Note'. During this door-to-door drive of donation collection, we will also invoke Gujarati pride and appeal people to make Modi the PM," Patel said.

The BJP has set a target to win all the 26 Lok Sabha seats of the state during the elections to be held in April/May this year, where winning every single constituency will matter for Modi to reach the magical figure of 272.

(Agencies)

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