06-24-2009, 12:18 PM (This post was last modified: 06-24-2009, 12:40 PM by Capt M Kumar.)
<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> For the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra, which will have to deal with the perils of incumbency, poor rains will add to its woes. In Jharkhand as well Congress will be at an disadvantage as BJP can be expected to stress on the fact that Presidentâs Rule, which places the state under the control of the Centre, is nothing more than a period of Congress rule.
07-24-2009, 07:17 AM (This post was last modified: 07-24-2009, 07:19 AM by Capt M Kumar.)
Though Jharkhand assembly election is due in March 2010 in the normal course, politicians cutting across party line are busy pulling up their socks after Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on July 14 promised Assembly elections in the state within the next few months. Jharkhand assembly is currently under suspended animation.
While Chidambramâs announcement to this effect surely triggered hectic political activities in Jharkhand, the centreâs decision to transfer <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo--> Governor Syed Sibtey Razi is also being viewed as <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo--> Congress attempt at winning over the popular support just before the polls.
<!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo--> Leader of the Opposition LK Advani has declared that the Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP alliance plans to give the Congress a run for its money in Maharashtra. The BJP is accusing the Congress of arrogance of power in Haryana and claims that the party has not a "ghost of a chance" in Jharkhand.
With BJP yet to recover from the Lok Sabha defeat, <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo--> Congress sees the poll battle as a repeat of the Lok Sabha elections in which it had done well in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.
<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Elections to the Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies would be held on October 13, the Election Commission said on Monday.
Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla said voting would be held for 288 seats of Maharashtra, 90 seats of Haryana and 60 seats of Arunachal. The counting of votes has been scheduled for October 22.
Chawla said that as per the revised voters' list, Maharashtra had an electorate of 7.56 crore and Haryana 1.20 crore.
<!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo--> Participating in a protest rally organised in Ranchi against the non-inclusion of Jharkhand in the list of poll-bound states, Mr Sinha asserted that BJP will face the coming round of polls unitedly and strongly, and give a befitting reply to its opponents. âNot at all,â the former Union minister told newspersons when asked whether the wrangling within BJP will affect its electoral prospects in Jharkhand and October 13 assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh. âWe (BJP leaders) shall all unite to face future challenges,â he replied. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Politi...how/4961550.cms
Chopper carrying Andhra Pradesh CM missing
Wed Sep 2, 2009 7:19pm IST
HYDERABAD (Reuters) - A helicopter carrying Y.S.R. Reddy, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, went missing near a dense jungle while on a routine district tour early on Wednesday, officials said.
"The chief minister's chopper still remains untraced," K. Rosiah, the state finance minister said in Hyderabad.
"I am appealing to people to please help us in search operations," he said, hours after the air traffic control room lost contact with the helicopter in bad weather.
Air Force officials said five helicopters were scanning the state's Kurnool and Chittor districts for the missing chopper.
"So far, we have not found it," Wing Commander T.K. Singha, told Reuters in New Delhi.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NCP ready to âsurrenderâ to Cong in Maharashtra
PNS | New Delhi
<b>Faced with growing Congress support and a formidable BJP-Shiv Sean combine in Maharashtra, the NCP is prepared to âsurrenderâ eight to ten seats to the Congress in the forthcoming Assembly polls to sustain the alliance in the State.</b> The Congress-NCP partnership presently governs the crucial western State.
According to Congress leaders, the party along with its ally RPI (Gavai) has demanded 22 additional seats from NCPâs present quota of 121. The Congress, along with allies had contested 167 seats in the 288 member Legislative Assembly in previous election. The Congress has demanded more seats, citing the improved performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls and changed profiles after delimitation.
With sources hinting that the Congress could contest around 175 to 180 seats, a final announcement would be made in Delhi at a joint Press conference by AK Antony, the AICC in-charge of the State and NCP leader Praful Patel shortly. State PCC president Manikrao Thakre and his NCP counterpart RR Patil are currently engaged in giving final touches to the seat-sharing formula. <b>Nomination for the Assembly election starts on September 18 and last date for filing paper is September 25.</b>
The alliance went through turbulent times after a section of the Congress leadership openly favoured the snapping of ties with the NCP and going alone in the Assembly poll. The Congress went further by announcing and operating its own panels, such as the steering, campaign and manifesto committees.
Central leaders including Antony maintained a studied silence as these developments happened, putting further pressure on the NCP leadership. It then became a case of who would blink first.
<b>Sharad Pawar has requested the Congress to adopt a pragmatic view on seat-sharing negotiations. âThere have been changes in the constituencies after the delimitation exercise, but we need to sit together and take a practical view.â </b>
<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Sunil Deshmukh: âMere paas Vilasrao hai, roads hai, flyovers hai, vikas ka andhi hai, cadre hai, public hai. Tere paas kya hai? Rao Saheb: âMere paas maa haiâ. (Sunil Deshmukh: I enjoy the support of Vilasrao Deshmukh. My development work speaks for me. I have people behind me. What do you have with you? Rao Saheb: I have mother with meâ).
This is the SMS â a take-off from the unforgettable film Dewaar dialogue â that has been making rounds in the State political circles, shortly before and after President Pratibha Patil's son Rajendra Shekhawat â who is fondly called as âRao Sahebâ in his family and friend circles â caused a sensation in the State Congress circles by openly seeking party nomination to contest the State Assembly poll from Amravati constituency in Vidarbha region. http://www.dailypioneer.com/202069/Mere-pa...aharashtra.html
STAFF WRITER 11:23 HRS IST
Ahmedabad Sep 14 (PTI) The ruling BJP in Gujarat is leading in five of the seven assembly segments, where bypolls were held on September 10.
According to initial trends, BJP candidates are ahead in Danta, Jasdan, Sami, Dehgam and Chotila while Congress is ahead in Dhoraji and Kodinar seats.
The seven seats where bypolls were held are Dehgam, Danta and Sami in North Gujarat and Chotila, Jasdan, Dhoraji and Kodinar in Saurashtra.
Of these seven seats, Congress held six seats while Kodinar was held by BJP.
The BJP had not done well in the recent Lok Sabha polls. The party had also lost Junagadh Municipal Corporation elections to the Congress.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi had not campaigned for the party in the by-polls which are considered to be a test of his popularity in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has achieved a historically victory on Saurashtraâs Jasdan seat. This is nothing but a blast in the strongest Congress fortress of the state.
The BJP has also won Sami-Harij seat which is also a gain for the party as in previous election this seat was with Congress.
The BJP has also significantly won the Dehgam seat which was believed as Congress dominant seat. This seat too is a gain for the party.
BJP workers are jubilant over the victory.
BJP is also ahead on Chotila and Danta seats that were previously with the Congress.
Congress has won Dhoraji seat, and it is ahead on Kodinar seat.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Morale-boosting act by BJP in Assembly by-polls</b>
pioneer.com
PTI | Ahmedabad/ Dehradun
In a morale-boosting performance after the Lok Sabha defeat, the ruling BJP on Monday wrested five Assembly seats from Congress in Gujarat and won one each in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, where the party got a majority in the State Assembly.
In G<b>ujarat, the BJP wrested Jasdan, Chotila, Dehgam, Danta and Sami-Hariz from Congress while it lost Kodinar to the main opposition party which retained Dhoraji.</b>
Out of the seven Assembly seats in Gujarat where by-polls were held on September 10, <b>six were held by the Congress while one was with BJP. With today's win, BJP's strength in the 182-member Assembly goes up to 122 while that of Congress 54. Others account for six</b>.
The by-elections results will come as a great relief for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, after the unimpressive performance in the Lok Sabha polls and defeat to Congress in Junagadh Municipal Corporation body elections. In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 15 of the 26 seats with the rest going to the Congress.
The by-polls were considered to be test of popularity of Modi, who chose to abstain from campaigning. Party cadres and workers celebrated throughout the State.
BJP also secured a wafer-thin majority on its own in the <b>Uttarakhand Assembly by winning the Vikasnagar seat, taking its tally to 36 in the 70-member House.</b>
In Madhya Pradesh, the ruling <b>BJP wrested Tendukheda from Congress which retained Gohad seat.</b>
In Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim, ruling Congress and Sikkim Democratic Front respectively won Tekkali and Namchi-Singhithang seats.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sept. 14: The <b>Telugu Desam leaders are in an upbeat mood </b>though the party lost to the Congress in the Tekkali byelection on Monday.
<b>The reason is that the Praja Rajyam and the Lok Satta, which had divided the Opposition votes in 2009, were marginalised. The TD hopes that the 2014 polls will be a straight fight between the Congress and the Telugu Desam.</b>
The TD president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, said the Congress won on a âdouble sympathyâ for the MLA-elect and for YSR. âDespite the sympathy wave, the TD has done extremely well by getting 52,077 votes.â
Sources said Mr Naidu was pleased with the performance of the party and the marginalisation of the Praja Rajyam and Lok Satta.
The senior TD leader, Mr Umareddy Venkateshwarulu, said there was no loss to the Telugu Desam since the Congress retained its seat.
<b>âThe Congress margin is just 7,173. The TD has performed well despite the fears of sympathy wave,â he said. âThe result indicates that YSRâs death made no impact on voters. If it had, Congress should have won by a thumping majority.â</b>
<b>The PR chief, Mr K. Chiranjeevi, too attributed the Congressâs bypoll win to the âYSR sympathy wave.â He said his party lost the election as it fielded a candidate at the last minute.</b> He said the Congress victory was expected.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So PRP was upto its games. Looks like by 2014 there is a need to nullify the effect.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Cong trounced in Delhi</b>
pioneer.com
Rajesh Kumar | New Delhi
<b>BJP takes Dwarka, RJD Okhla</b>
The withdrawal of subsidy on power consumption has electrocuted the electoral fortunes of the Congress in the national Capital. The ruling party lost both the Assembly seats which went to polls on September 10 and 15. The seats â Dwarka and Okhla â were earlier held by the Congress and the spoils have now been divided between the BJP and the RJD.
The defeat in the Assembly bypolls follows the drubbing of the party in the corporation byelection last month. The bypolls were necessitated after Okhla MLA Parvez Hashmi was elected to the Rajya Sabha, and Dwarka MLA Mahabal Mishra to the Lok Sabha from West Delhi seat.
.......
In Dwarka, Rajput polled 35,891 votes while Choudhary polled 24,526 votes. Mahabal Mishra of the Congress had earlier won the Dwarka seat thrice consecutively and defeated Pradyuman Rajput of the BJP by 13,981 votes in the 2008 Assembly election. The bypoll for Dwarka Assembly seat was a prestige issue for Mahabal Mishra. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
New Delhi: A day after the BJP petitioned the Election Commission for holding immediate election in Jharkhand, the party leaders from the State called on President Pratibha Patil seeking her intervention in the matter. âWe requested the President to direct the Governor to dissolve the State Assembly,â they said.
As the feuding Thackeray cousins ready themselves for Tuesdayâs electoral showdown on their home turf of Mumbai, it is becoming increasingly certain that the Raj Thackeray-led MNS will not be as effective as it was in the last Lok Sabha poll in spoiling the electoral prospects of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the nationâs commercial capital.
Though the ruling Congress-NCP alliance once again hopes to cash in on the division of Marathi votes in Mumbai, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is doing everything to counter the MNS efforts to cut into the saffron allianceâs traditional vote bank.
For the Thackeray cousins, Tuesdayâs poll is extremely crucial. While Raj â whose party candidates polled more than 1 lakh votes in all the six Lok Sabha constituencies, thus helping the Congress-NCP alliance post a landslide victory in Mumbai - wants to prove that his partyâs LS poll performance was not just a flash in the pan and that his is the real Sena, Uddhav is more than eager to call his estranged cousinâs bluff and regain its hold over the metropolis, where its party rules the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
If the Shiv Sena is not taking any chances, it is because the MNS â though it did not win any seats in the LS poll â effectively prevented the saffron alliance from winning any seat in the metropolis. Secondly, it outclassed the Shiv Sena by establishing a lead in five of the 36 Assembly segments in the city as against the lead established by the Shiv Sena in just two segments. The Assembly segment-wise performance of the MNS and the Sena should be seen in the light that while the Congress established lead in 23 segments, the BJP and NCP stood first in five seats and one seat respectively.
The Senaâs poor showing in the LS poll was mainly due to the presence of MNS candidates in the fray. The Sena leadership has not taken kindly to the MNSâ ability to play spoilsport.
<b>The Marathi-speaking people account for almost 37 per cent of the 1.14 crore population in Mumbai. No wonder that in his Assembly poll campaign, Uddhav has been carrying out all-out campaign against cousin Raj, exhorting the Maharashtrians not to vote the MNS as their vote would not benefit the Marathi cause but indirectly help the Congress. Uddhav openly accused Raj of having taken a âsupariâ (money) from the Congress to defeat the Sena-BJP alliance.</b>
So much so that during electioneering, the Shiv Sena christened Raj as âSuparimanâ. On his part, Raj came up with a weak denial, asking the Sena leadership as to how he could be accused of striking a âsecret dealâ with the Congress when it had chosen to share power with the NCP in the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Congress-led DF Government had withdrawn his police protection.
Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe, who coined the âSuparimanâ sobriquet for Raj, says: âWe are better prepared than we were during the Lok Sabha poll. I do not think we will witness the same kind of division in Marathi votes. The MNS will not reach even a double-digit figure in the Assembly poll.â
Uddhavâs exhortation to Maharashtrians that they should not âwasteâ their vote by supporting the MNS is working. As Andheri-based longtime Shiv Sena sympathiser Raju Vernekar puts it: âThe Shiv Sena will not be affected as much as it was in the Lok Sabha poll. The impression that I get from fellow Maharashtrians is that they have not appreciated the manner in which Raj divided the Marathi votes in the Lok Sabha poll.â
However, MPCC president Kripashankar Singh candidly admits that the Congress-NCP alliance would benefit from the division of Marathi votes. On whether the Congress will win 23 Assembly seats in Mumbai to maintain its Assembly segment-wise seat position in the Lok Sabha poll, Singh says: âWe will win few seats more or less, but our overall performance will be the same.â
However, BJPâs Mumbai unit president Gopal Shetty disagrees with Singh: âAll I can say is that disappointment awaits the Congress. The MNS factor will not affect us much.â
Besides, <b>the MNSâ rabid âpro-Marathiâ and âanti-migrantsâ agenda has not just rubbed the North Indians settled in Mumbai the wrong way, it has also not gone down well with the Gujaratis, South Indians and other Marathi-speaking people settled in Mumbai.</b> Rajâs insistence on speaking in Marathi in interviews given to English television channels has not gone well with the âoutsidersâ in the metropolis.
The circulation of CDs carrying interviews by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray â who looks hale and hearty after his prolonged illness â has also helped matters for the Shiv Sena.
However, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire in the ongoing tussle between the cousins, <b>the BJP â which is contesting 13 seats in Mumbai â has played it safe by putting up eight non-Maharashtrians as candidates. Simultaneously, the Shiv Sena â while trying to keep its Marathi vote bank intact â has also been trying to woo non-Maharashtrians â particularly Gujaratis, UPites, Biharis, South Indians and Rajasthanis â settled in Mumbai.</b> âUnlike that of the MNS, ours is an all-inclusive agenda. Though we espouse the cause of Marathi-speaking people, we respect people from other regions who have settled in this city,â says a senior Sena leader.
Raj Thackerayâs rigid âpro-Marathiâ attitude is bothering his own party candidates. <b>Desperate as they are, the MNS candidates are reaching out to non-Maharashtrian voters by distributing English, Hindi and Gujarati pamphlets.</b>
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> For the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra, which will have to deal with the perils of incumbency, poor rains will add to its woes. In Jharkhand as well Congress will be at an disadvantage as BJP can be expected to stress on the fact that Presidentâs Rule, which places the state under the control of the Centre, is nothing more than a period of Congress rule. 
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Elections to the Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies would be held on October 13, the Election Commission said on Monday.
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Sunil Deshmukh: âMere paas Vilasrao hai, roads hai, flyovers hai, vikas ka andhi hai, cadre hai, public hai. Tere paas kya hai? Rao Saheb: âMere paas maa haiâ. (Sunil Deshmukh: I enjoy the support of Vilasrao Deshmukh. My development work speaks for me. I have people behind me. What do you have with you? Rao Saheb: I have mother with meâ).