<!--emo&:thumbsup--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbup.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbup.gif' /><!--endemo--> UPA govt has failed on all fronts: Rajnath
[ 25 Mar, 2007 2236hrs ISTPTI ]
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JHANSI: Promising a "clean and efficient" government if the party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Sunday accused the SP and BSP of "caste- based" and the Congress of "appeasement" politics that has led to a worsening law and order situation.
Addressing an election rally here, he described the "delay" in the hanging of Mohd Afzal Guru in the Parliament attack case as an example of Congress' "appeasement politics" and blamed the UPA government for the spiralling prices.
He said the UPA government at the Centre had "failed on all fronts". Turning to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Singh said "no section of the society is feeling safe under the present dispensation".
He said law and order situation was worsening day by day and the state was ruled by "mafias and criminals".
Singh described the SP and BSP as "caste-based opportunist parties" in an oblique reference to the large backward classes vote bank of this state.
He appealed to the electorate to give the BJP an absolute majority so that UP could get a "clean and efficient government".
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Rise in prices puts Cong in a quagmire </b>
Sidharth Mishra | New Delhi
It's advantage BJP in MCD poll
The Pioneer-PMS Survey
Delhi has for long been considered as a barometer of the national political mood. Poll results of the Capital have on most of occasions reflected the national trend. Sheila Dikshit leading the Congress to victory in Assembly elections in 1998 and 2003 being the only exceptions. The MCD poll scheduled for April 5 too would reflect the nation's mood. This mood is just not in the context of the seats going to be won or lost by political parties but the issues which are dominating the voters' mind.Â
A survey conducted jointly by The Pioneer and The Pioneer Media School (PMS) across 96 of the 272 wards in the city by 32 teams over three days covering a sample size of 6,000 voters shows that inflation more than the issues of sealing and corruption is dominating the minds of the voters. In fact, we could say that it endorses the point made by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party that price rise was largely responsible for the defeat of her party in Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Of the people surveyed, which included 10 different economic and education groups, 70 per cent said that price rise was the main poll issue. Demolition came second with 20 per cent. Civic issues like power and water supply hardly found any takers as poll issue. However, people were concerned over corruption among local councillors.
But what should concern Sonia Gandhi more is the indictment of her Government's policy of minority appeasement. In an interesting finding, 53.5 per cent of the people disagree with the proposition that "BJP is a communal party raising issues and matters of only caste and community." What should be more worrying for the Congress is the finding that 54.33 per cent of people surveyed find no truth in the proposition that "Congress is a true secular party never encouraging caste and communal politics."
Does that mean a total sweep by the BJP in the upcoming poll? A word of caution here for the managers of the saffron brigade. Like Uttarakhand, despite a clear edge for the BJP, the end result could still see a close contest. This is reflected in the findings of two different questions: 62 per cent of the people surveyed felt there was a wave in favour of the BJP and just 30 per cent backing the Congress. However, nearly an equal number (60 per cent) of people said that social standing of the candidates mattered more to them than the political party they belonged to.
With increase in the number of seats in the MCD, the number of actual voters in several wards has come down to as low as 24,000. With this development, a candidate polling in the vicinity of 8,000 to 10,000 votes is likely to win the election comfortably. In such a situation, a candidate's individual popularity in the area could carry more weight than the influence of the party. This gives some hope to the Congress, which is otherwise being seen to be totally out of running.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bookies see hung UP House
Â
Mumbai, March 27: The bookies are betting on a hung Assembly in Uttar Pradesh. The betting rates were opened at noon on Tuesday in Jaipur and, according to the bookies, <b>no single party will get or cross 125 seats</b>. At the rates at which bets have been taken, the expectation appears to be that the ruling Samajwadi Party will lose between 20-25 seats, the Congress 10-12 seats and the Lok Dal of Ajit Singh 5-6 seats.
The total betting is expected to be around Rs 1,000 crores to Rs 1,500 crores.
In the last Assembly, the Samajwadi Party (SP) got 143 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 98 seats, the BJP 88 seats, the Congress 26, the Lok Dal 15 and the rest were won by Independents. <b>This time the bookies expect the SP to get between 110-115 seats; the BSP also between 110-115 seats; the BJP 105-110 seats and the Congress 16-20 seats.</b>
<b>Among the smaller parties, they expect that Raj Babbarâs party will get 4-7 seats, Ajit Singhâs Rashtriya Lok Dal between 8-10 seats and V.P. Singhâs Jan Morcha 5-8 seats. </b>The bookies feel that the BSPâs chances have brightened because Ms Mayawati has given 135 seats to brahmin candidates. The bookies do not appear to feel that the Rahul Gandhi factor will work wonders for the Congress. On the contrary, they say that his recent statement on the Babri Masjid â that the demolition would not have happened had a member of the Gandhi family been âin chargeâ and in politics at that time â will cost the Congress at least 10 votes. The Hindus feel that this statement was made to woo Muslim votes.
<b>The Sonia Gandhi factor is also not likely to have an impact. The bookies feel that her campaigning in Punjab and Jharkhand had not had any impact, and it would be the same in UP.</b> The SP, they feel, stand to lose some seats because of the poor law and order situation and incidents like the Nithari child murders. The bookies are expected to update their betting rates after the first round of voting in Uttar Pradesh on April 7, when 62 constituencies will go to the polls.
Here is from "always go wrong gang" of HT, CNN-IBN paid by Sonia led Congress.
Enjoy full of contradictions. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In other words, you need to wait for the extensive exit-cum-post poll survey that the Indian Express â CNN-IBN â CSDS team plans to carry out. Or, perhaps, for May 11 if you wish to get your arithmetic right. Link
(Conducted by Sanjay Kumar, Rajeeva Karandikar and Yogendra Yadav)
Seats projection
Projection 2007Â Actual 2002
SP 150 - 160Â 145
BSPÂ 140 - 150Â 98
BJP+Â 50 - 60Â 106
Congress 20 -30 25
Others 25 - 35 29
BJP+ includes Apna Dal for projections for 2007 and its partners JD(U), Samata, Loktantrik Congress and RLD in 2002. Others include RLD in projections for 2007.
<b>Rise in Rahulâs popularity </b>Â <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Jan 2006 1.9
Aug 2006 2.6
Jan 2007 4.2
March 2007 5.5
Per cent who named <b>Rahul Gandhi as their preferred Chief Minister for UP </b>in CNN-IBN/CSDS State of the Nation Surveys. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Frozen vote banks?
Vote 2007 Change from 2002
Yadavs for SPÂ 77 + 5
Muslims for SP 54 0
Dalits for BSP 73 + 4
Upper caste for BJP 48 0
Caste vote arithmetic
SP BSP BJP+ Congress
BJPâs hold over the upper caste is weakening
Brahmin 9 10 57 13
Rajput 19 10 46 14
Vaishya 19 13 47 6
SP continues to hold the Yadav and much of the Muslim vote
Yadav 77 5 3 5
Muslim 54 12 2 14
BSPâs dominance among the dalit voters still unchallenged
Jatav 5 78 4 2
Other SC 14 60 4 7
Itâs an open game for the remaining OBC communities
How they managed to get internal survey is interesting as always, IBN are always wrong? <b>BJP survey predicts hung House in UP </b>
<img src='http://static.ibnlive.com/pix/sitepix/03_2007/up_nostnw_248.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->According to party sources, the survey has, in fact, predicted a modest 100 seats for the BJP, while its alliance partners Janata Dal (U) and Apna Dal are not expected to secure more than 15 seats.
A CNN-IBN-Indian Express pre-poll survey has, however, warned that the BJP could be up for the worst-ever performance in the state in the last two decades with the seat share falling to just about 45-55 seats
...
The survey predicts <b>110 seats for Mulayam Singh Yadavâs Samajwadi Party, 32 less than its current strength in the outgoing House. The survey says BSP is going to be the net largest gainer this time, managing to practically double its tally to 125 from 67 seats it holds at present</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cong goal in UP: Oust Mulayam
[ 28 Mar, 2007 0101hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
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NEW DELHI: Congress appears to be working to a limited gameplan in UP. With the party quite clear-eyed about its modest prospects in the polls due to get under way next month, it is framing a strategy aimed at stoking the anti-Mulayam Singh propaganda already being fanned by BSP and BJP.
Positioning itself just behind the two big challengers, Congress is running a steady sniping campaign against
the Samajwadi Party government with its media cell reeling off figures to show UPâs lack of development. "UP is doing well only in negative news. This is hardly a matter of pride," said minister for science and technology Kapil Sibal, who is overseeing Congress's media campaign.
Congress is busying running down SP's performance by pointing out that per capita consumption of power in UP was less than half the national average and the state lagged in terms of road coverage. The party is arguing that the SP poll line, 'kayam rahe Mulayam (Mulayam should stay)' is a poor joke on the denizens of UP.
Congress is looking to see where it can add to what it feels is a building anti-Mulayam sentiment. The primary objective is to see what it can do to ensure that the SP loses power in UP in a decisive manner. The party feels that any prospects for its future revival will remain blocked as long as Mulayam remains part of the power matrix.
Added to what it sees as a political compulsion, Congress animosity towards Mulayam and his lieutenant Amar Singh is also driven by the SP leadership's hostility towards Sonia Gandhi. Congress is attempting to take some of the "secular" sheen off Mulayam by telling Muslim voters that it was SP's sustained opposition to Sonia that prevented the Congress chief from forming a government in 1999.
SP is bound to return the compliments, as it has in the aftermath of Rahul Gandhi's Babri Masjid remarks, but Congress seems to sense that Mulayam is fighting an uphill battle. If there is a possibility that he may be comprehensively ousted from power, Congress seems prepared to help this happen irrespective whether the big gainers are BSP or BJP.a
<b>Moolahyumm, Congress battle for 3rd place in UP</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mayawati has fielded candidates who are not only resourceful but also have good money power to counter her enemy's moves. Most of them have already proven their strength while shelling out around Rs 1 crore for the BSP ticket for this prestigious election.
The BJP has slightly improved its position and its dedicated RSS cadres will try to take further advantage of the anti-incumbency wave blowing all over UP.
Mayawati activated her dedicated cadres six months ago and they have been working incessantly in the interiors.
Moolahyumm's cadres were once very good, but this time they are a disgruntled and demoralised lot. Frustration has seeped in, and they have become indifferent, thanks also to his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav's misadministration.
The Congress cadres are comparatively poor in all respects
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>The Muslims have now to seriously lean towards the Congress. After all, Mayawati has unwittingly labelled them as kattarpanthi (rabid communalists). What about Muslim support to Moolahyumm? Well, the Muslims are far too shrewd to waste their votes on a losing horse</b>.
Mayawati's elephant has been majestically striding towards the victory stand, least bothered by the wayside palmists, flower-vendors and cyclists.
The BJP will trail way behind the elephant. The others will pick up the crumbs by the wayside.
UP is a very, very important state for the Congress party to neglect. More so, with the parliamentary election not very far away, Sonia can ill-afford to lose UP. The Congress will fight tooth and nail.
This time, the Congress and all its ragtag allies put together may succeed in just tilting the balance, and pipping the over-confident Moolahyumm Singh's Samajwadi Party at the ribbon for the third place!
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BJP wins Bajpur vidhan sabha seat in Uttarachal. With this, BC Khanduri has got an absolute majority in house, but he said alliance partners will continue in government.
Why Mayawati is wooing the Brahmins by Chandra Bhan Prasad ( I think Chandra Bhan [a Harijan himself]was the person who spoke against reservations and was attacked by pro-reservation <i>peace</i> activists)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->For the record, Dalits constitute 21 per cent of UP's population. In the state's 2002 assembly elections, the BSP garnered 23.06 per cent of the popular vote and won 98 seats. In the parliamentary elections two years later, the BSP garnered 24.67 per cent of the popular vote, and won 19 seats. In the 1992 parliamentary elections, the BSP had garnered 22.08 per cent of the popular vote, and won 14 seats. In the 1996 assembly elections, the BSP garnered 19.64 percent votes, and won 67 seats.Â
In other words, during the last four elections, the BSP's vote share in UP hovered around 21 per cent (which is equal to the Dalit vote base), though the BSP never claimed to be a party of Dalits alone. Since its birth in 1984, the BSP has espoused the cause of the Bahujans [SC/STs/OBCs/minorities] and deployed the metaphor of 85 per cent versus 15 per cent -- meaning that the 85 per cent Bahujans ought to join hands to capture power from the 15 per cent Dwijas. The BSP's Bahujanwad can be safely described as one of the biggest ideology driven mass campaigns contemporary India has witnessed. The late Kanshi Ram invested his entire life advocating Bahujanwad, but neither OBCs nor the minorities embraced Kanshi Ram or his Bahujanwad. Mayawati too had been at the forefront of spreading Bahujanwad for over two decades.
Arguably, Mayawati arrived at a conclusion that the 21 per cent Dalit vote base was inadequate to install her party in UP's political power structure, and that she needed to add another social bloc. But why only Brahmins -- who in the Dalits' collective imagery, are the historical fountainhead of India's vicious social order?Â
It does not need any great sociologist to acknowledge the fact that Brahmins have become virtual political untouchables in the Gangetic belt. Overwhelmed by the rise of the OBCs, Brahmins have become social orphans. Isolated politically, with their near 10 per cent population base in UP, Brahmins were waiting to be taken as an influential vote bank. To escape their growing political irrelevance, UP's Brahmins found a new opportunity in Maya's call to join hands with the Dalits. It is therefore pretty easy to decipher the Brahmins' political predicament.
Should the BSP surpass its 24.67 per cent vote share -- the best ever for the party -- in the 2004 parliamentary elections, or add more to its 98 seat tally the party had won in the 2002 assembly elections, then Mayawati would have decoded changing India's social undercurrents. Unexplored as yet, several blocs are clamoring for new social contracts. Nitish Kumar's adoption of MBCs (most backward classes) in the 2005 Bihar assembly election is a classic case of readjusting newer social contradictions.
<b>In an adventurous move, Mayawati seems to have dived deep into the Dalits' sleeping consciousness. The modern-day Dalit consciousness has evolved into a battleground of contradictions. The awake, evident and articulate consciousness is pre-determined by history. It questions and confronts injustices meted out on the Dalits. It resolves to dismantle the Brahminical caste order and systems of exclusion. The Brahmin is perceived, quite legitimately, as the author and vehicle of the vicious caste order. The Brahmin, therefore, along with his worldview, culture, and dominance, ought to be defeated -- in favour of a new, egalitarian and human social order. This is the Dalit ideology.</b>
The sleepy, introverted and unreflective consciousness is aspirational and futuristic. It seeks a good life and calls for desegregation. The arenas of good lives are controlled by the Brahmin-led Dwijas -- the twice-born. The Brahmin, therefore, inadvertently though, has transformed into a positive point of reference. The aspiration therefore pushes Dalits into Brahmins' homes. Whenever accomplished Dalits -- civil servants, doctors, engineers -- marry outside their caste, the bride is least unlikely to come from any of the Dalit sub-castes -- the bride will in all probability be a Brahmin. Somewhere Dr Ambedkar's marriage to Dr Savita, a Brahmin, keeps reverberating in the Dalit consciousness.Â
Nonsense as usual, from Chandra Bhan Prasad. The answer for the question: Why is Mayawati wooing Brahmins? is simple. It is the same reason for the continued humiliation of Brahmins in Tamil Nadu.
Brahmins form approximately 9% of the population in UP. They form 1-3% of the population in TN.
The lesson should be clear to all upper castes: If you want to remain relevant in India's democratic calculus, <i><b>reproduce</b></i>! If you have a reasonably substantial population and you vote en bloc, the Devil himself will come to court your vote. Otherwise, the politicians will at best ignore you, and at worst persecute you.
In a democratic near-totalitarian state like India, the demographic consequences are inexorable, and always painful.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The lesson should be clear to all upper castes: If you want to remain relevant in India's democratic calculus, reproduce!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They were killed in great number, hunted by every invaders. It is still continue.
Followed by a visit of Gopinath Munde and Venkaiya Naidu to Gorakhpur, Yogi is back in BJP. All candidates of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha will withdraw in favour of BJP official candidates, they announced in a press conference.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Centre plays dirty game </b>
Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
Awards Rs 10 cr Gujarat TV serial to pet Mallika Sarabhai
Mallika Sarabhai finally has her way. Wrapped in a gift pack of secrecy, the Prasar Bharti has given back the eminent danseuse a controversial Rs 10 cr TV serial project terminated last year under stiff resistance from the Gujarat Government.
The lucrative contract involved producing year-long Gujarat-centric TV serials on women and social issues for Doordarshan. The Ahmedabad DD telecast the first episode on Thursday. Â
The telecast has evoked sharp protests both from the State Government and independent producers who were not invited to bid for the project. Several producers have now approached the Gujarat High Court for revoking the contract.
Reacting to the Prasar Bharti's decision to award the contract to Mallika Sarabhai despite Gujarat Government's objection, State Information Secretary Pankaj Kumar told The Pioneer that the State Government has not been communicated about the new development.
"The project concerns Gujarat but we have not even been informed," Kumar said, adding, "We are going to take up the matter again with the Centre."
.....
The choice of Mallika Sarabhai as a producer was also criticised as she is known to be a bitter critic of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.<b> The State Government and some members of the Prasar Bharti Board had told the Plan panel that the objectivity and credibility of any such serial produced by Mallika Sarabhai would always be open to doubt.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sick Queen had nothing else to do, now she is trying these trick. Why no serials on Nandigram or Q or Sikh riots and aftermath?
Faced with a revolt, the cadre based BJP tonight claimed it had succeeded in pacifying Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath and persuaded him to drop the idea of fielding his own candidates in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said that he met Adityanath in Gorakhpur and both came to the conclusion that there should be no polarisation in "nationalist votes."
Naidu said Adityanath discussed regional issues with him and that the party would consider his concerns.
"He has said he will put up no candidates of his own and will campaign for the party," Naidu remarked.
The meeting came days after Adityanath announced plans to field some 70-75 candidates despite BJP veteran LK Advani's intervention to resolve the row with him.
Party sources, however, said there were chances of carrying out the replacement of BJP candidates, especially in the Gorakhpur belt, to accommodate Adityanath's demands.
<b>Cong promises quota in govt jobs </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Congress on Saturday released its election manifesto for the upcoming Assembly polls assuring the best possible welfare measures for minority, Dalits as well as 10 per cent reservation in government jobs to economically backward upper caste people.
...............
<b>âNo government in the state could be formed or run without Congress,â senior Congress leaders told UNI.</b> [total Gonda gardi]
But if the party has already discarded SP, BSP and BJP as allies then how is the involvement of the Congress in the government formation being claimed? <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>EC pulls off Rahul posters in UP town </b>
<img src='http://static.ibnlive.com/pix/sitepix/03_2007/rahul_gandhi_248pppp.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' /><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Election Commission observers pulled down some of his posters from government buildings saying it was in violation of the model code of conduct.
.........
Rahul, the star campaigner of Congress, will tour Lalitpur, Jhansi, Kanpur and Agra on April 2, 3 and 4.
Polling in these places is due on April 7.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sidhu to Rahul: If Atal was PM in '84, Sikhs would not have been murdered </b> link
Rajesh Kumar | New Delhi
In the last lap of campaign for the MCD polls in the Capital, the BJP on Monday launched the heroes of its battle in Punjab and Uttarakhand to canvass for the party candidates.
<b>Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen (retd) BC Khanduri held whirlwind tour of the city addressing several public meetings</b>.
Addressing a public meeting at Bhajan Pura in trans-Yamuna, BJP MP Sidhu said that the Congress has lost the trust of the people. <b>"The party which deprives the people of their livelihood, runs bulldozers on the houses, which gets the pulses to be sold at the rate of Rs 70 per kg and wine Rs 50 per bottle. What good it can do for the society,"</b> he said. Sidhu spoke at length about the greatness of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in his typical proverbial language. In the end commenting on Rahul Gandhi's statement he said, <b>had Vajpayee been the Prime Minister in 1984, thousands of Sikhs would not have got murdered</b>.
<b>"Just after Rajiv Gandhi from the Gandhi family became the Prime Minister, more than five Sikhs were killed in the anti-Sikh riots in the country which was sponsored by the Congress. Today a child of that family is speaking that had a member of Gandhi family been the PM then the mosque at Ayodhaya could not have been demolished. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had got that site sealed,"</b> Siddhu said.
Famous for his proverbs, the BJP MP said that winter has left and summer is approaching. In the same way, Congress is leaving and BJP is coming.
"The people should be cautious of the Congress. This party is like bamboo tree which looks big but is thorny and hollow inside. BJP is like sugercane which is strong, sweet and which sweetens the mind of the people besides providing livelihood to the farmers and providing light in their kitchens and houses," Siddhu said.
When the speech was ending, someone asked from the public to say chak de phatte. Prompt came the reaction in the language of cricket, "bhaiyon chak de phatte, nap de killi, dilli uda de Congress ki killi."
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