From B L Kak
NEW DELH, Aug 10: The Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, has been thrown into confusion....more

Eye damage chances more
during today’s eclispe

NEW DELHI, Aug 10: Chances of eye damage are most likely during tomorrow’s total.....more

H D Devegowda

Gowda lauches campaign
by driving tractor

BANGALORE, Aug 10: Janata Dal (Secular) president, H D Devegowda today took to the....more

Maneka Gandhi

Former MLA complains
to EC against Maneka

NEW DELHI, Aug 10: A former MLA from Pilibhit....more

LS polls in Rajasthan
Straight fight on cards
between Congress, BJP

JAIPUR, Aug 10: A straight fight is on the cards.....more

EC bans holding
of controversial
seminars in UP

LUCKNOW, Aug 10: The Election Commission.....more

Vitthal embroiled in
EC code controversy

MUMBAI, Aug 10: Along with mortal politicians....more

Efforts on to fish out
bodies of 60 passengers

CHHINDWARA, Aug 10: Intensive efforts were.....more

Bajrang Dal plans to commission sadhus against Sonia

From B L Kak

NEW DELH, Aug 10: The Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, has been thrown into confusion, with clear signals reaching her about the continuance of groupism in the party in different States on the one hand and the revival of the foreign origin issue as a result of the offensive by the BJP-led Government against her on the other.

BJP-sponsored banners against her have reached almost all parts of the country. And the banner proclaims: "BJP hi nahin saara desh janata hai, aap Italy ki hawa, pani aur mitti ki bani hui hain". And the Information and Broadcasting Ministry with Mr Pramod Mahajan as its head allowed a more serious aspect than this: DAVP (Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity) inserted a full-page advertisement in some newspapers, clearly as part of plan to whip up emotions against Ms Sonia Gandhi.

The advertisement has caused consternation in the Congress camp, considering the fact that the message of the advertisement is directed against Ms Sonia Gandhi. True, Ms Sonia has already allowed her party managers to organise a massive publicity drive across the country in support of the party. But her think-tank has not been able to counter the impact of the DAVP advertisement as it is in the memory of the Quit India movement.

The advertisement read: "On this day Mahatma Gandhi, the Fatfher of the Nation, asked a foreign ruler to quit our motfherland. People lived for his words. People died for his words. And the foreign ruler was forced to leave. Today, let us solemnly pledge to defend this freedom". Despite the fact that Ms Sonia Gandhi has already become a bona fide Indian citizen, the BJP and its allies project her as a "foreigner with Italian origins".

Yet another disturbing problem for Ms Sonia Gandhi and her camp: Having completely rejected the Congress party’s pleadings to make poll campaign strategies of all parties focus on issues and not on personalities, the BJP has planned to rake up her foreign antecedents and that too at a time when pre-poll surveys have also pitted Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and Ms Sonia against each other, with people being asked who would they prefer as Prime Minister.

Happily for the BJP and other constituents of the Sangh Parivar, the extremist Bajrang Dal has plans to commission hundreds of sadhus to foil Ms Sonia Gandhi’s election immediately after she announces her candidature. All India organiser of Bajrang Dal ,Mr Rajendra Singh Pankaj, divulged: "Our plans are ready. All that we are waiting for is the Congress party’s announcement with regard to the constituency she will contest from. We will foil her gameplan to come to power".

The Bajrang Dal stalwart predicted that it would be difficult for Ms Sonia Gandhi to get elected to the Lok Sabha from anywhere in Uttar Pradesh. According to him, the BJP alone is not there to oppose her candidature; Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party are also equally keen to defeat her in the ensuing elections on "purely swadeshi ground". Mr Pankaj, a known RSS pracharak, continues to function as the link between the sadhus and the Sangh Parivar. And the Sangh Parivar, Ms Sonia has been told by her sleuths, is all set to launch its offensive on her Italian origin. Mr Pankaj also divulged that Ms Sonia’s religious origin, Christianity, would also form the election plank of the Bajrang Dal.

Senior Congress leaders, including the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Digvijay Singh, Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dixit, and Messrs Pranab Mukherjee, Madhavrao Scindia, Arjun Singh, K Natwar Singh and RK Dhawan, are clear that Ms Sonia will be the Prime Minister if the party comes to power. However, each one of them has been found reluctant to highlight this at public rallies for fear of adverse voting. Interestingly, a section of the Congress party sought to confcuse the media by announcing the candidate of Dr Manmohan Singh for the Prime Ministership, but gave this up when it threatened to become counter-productive.

A top Congress leader told EXCELSIOR that things had witnessed a sudden change in recent days, improving the chances of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. "I know that our party president is a charismatic leader and a good vote catcher. But a direct comparison between her and Mr Vajpayee may not eventually favour the Congress", he said. While the Congress campaign hinged around the failures of the Vajpayee Government, the think-tank of Ms Sonia Gandhi has now been set thinking anew by the success of the BJP in projecting Mr Vajpayee as the pivot around which the issues are being linked.

Eye damage chances more during today’s eclispe

NEW DELHI, Aug 10: Chances of eye damage are most likely during tomorrow’s total solar eclipse as it will occur near the peak activity of the sun, warns the Nehru Planetarium here.

Watching an eclipse can be a good experience, but one’s eyes can be permanently damaged if adquate precautions are not taken, planetarium scientists, who listed a series of do’s and don’ts for viewing the eclipse, said.

Scientists say chances of eye damage during an eclispe are more as one is tempted to stare long at the seemingly dim sun. In contrast, on a clear day one cannot stare at the sun for long as body reflexes try to prevent the eye’s retina from burning due to the intense light.

The chances of eclipse blindness are maximum near the end of the total phase as the eye pupil dilates slowly in response to the low light.

As the moon suddenly exposes the bright sun, the fully open pupil allows a lot of light and heat radiation to enter, leading to eye injury.

The eclipse should be viewed with proper filters. Only during the totality period (when there is darkness) one can remove the filter to watch the full glory of the sun’s corona — the upper atmosphere of the darkened sun that becomes visible during a total eclispe. But the filter should be put back before the totality ends.

The safest way to watch the partial phases of a solar eclipes is to project the sun on to a screen using a projection system, according to the planetarium.

The projection system can be a simple mirror mounted suitably to reflect the sun onto a distant wall.

The mirror should be covered with a white card board with a 5-mm punched hole in the centre.

One should never look at the sun in the mirror, or through a telescope or binoculars.

One can also use tested and approved filters to view the sun, making sure that no part of the eye is directly exposed.

Especially hazardous are scratches on the filters, or makeshift filters prepared with smoked glass or X-ray negatives, or neutral gelatin filters, over-exposed black and white photographic films or over-exposed colour films, warn the planetarium scientists.

Watching the reflection on the water is also dangerous, they say. (PTI)

Gowda lauches campaign by driving tractor

BANGALORE, Aug 10: Janata Dal (Secular) president, H D Devegowda today took to the wheels of "tractor" to launch his party’s newly allotted symbol.

Gowda, sporting a green turban, offerred pooja at the principal diety of the city "Annamma Devi" at the temple and then steered the wheels of the tractor.

Addressing partymen gathered on the occasion, Gowda said he was proud to get the tractor symbol, which is dearer to the hearts of farmers.

The state unit JD (U) president Y Siddaramaiah accompanied Gowda in the tractor.

Following the split in Janata Dal, the Election Commission allotted the suffix "secular" and the tractor symbol to the gowda faction after freezing the "chakra" symbol of the undivided Janata Dal, in view of claims to it by the faction led by Sharad Yadav.

The Yadav faction has been given the suffix "united" and "arrow" as the symbol. (PTI)

Former MLA complains to EC against Maneka

NEW DELHI, Aug 10: A former MLA from Pilibhit has complained to the Election Commission, charging Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi with violating the election code of conduct.

Former MLA V M Singh has alleged in the complaint that Mrs Gandhi visited her Lok Sabha constituency Pilibhit on July 13, two days after the announcement of the poll schedule, and stayed in the VIP PWD guest house alongwith about 50 staff members.

Alleging that Mrs Gandhi was not happy with the food served to her, Mr Singh said in his complaint that the Minister called for the cook Suresh, who is a tehsil employee, and slapped him in full view of her supporters.

"It is the district staff which is going to be engaged in polling duty and such interaction between the candidate/minister and the staff was not in the interest of a fair election," the complaint said.

"There is terror among the employees who fear Mrs Maneka Gandhi more than ever before," it added.

The district administration was also refusing to arrest Mrs Gandhi’s official representative Bhajan Singh who is named in an FIR in a murder case in the district, the complainant alleged.

He urged the Commission to take action against the Minister for violating the code of conduct by allegedly terrorising Government employees. (UNI)

LS polls in Rajasthan
Straight fight on cards between Congress, BJP

JAIPUR, Aug 10: A straight fight is on the cards between Congress and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coming Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan.

As per present indications, the two major political parties would battle it out for all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The split in the Janata Dal spoiled all hopes of any feable attempt to forge a Third Front in the state by Left Parties and others.

Congress had won 18 seats in the last elections registering 4.5 per cent swing of votes in its favour while the BJP fortunes dipped with the party winning only five seats. The other two seats went to two Congress rebels - Buta Singh (Jalore-SC) and Sheeshram Ola (Jhunjhunu) who are back in the parent party now.

Stakes for Congress is quite high as the popularity of its seven-month-old Government, headed by Ashok Gehlot, will be on the test in the elections.

For the BJP also the polls are crucial as it has to re-establish itself as a force to rackon with in the state after its humiliating defeat in the last Assembly elections when it could win only 30 seats in the 200-member house.

The election process for ten seats going to the polls on September 5 will begin tomorrow but the both the Congress and the BJP are yet to finalise their candidates for these seats.

The first list of candidates issued by the BJP caused resentment among party workers in atleast two constituencies -Sawaimadhopur and Churu - against the chosen candidates and led to several resignations by party functionaries, including that of the state vice-president of BJP and member of election committee Kirodi Lal Meena, himself an aspirant for Sawaimadhopur.

The Congress dogged by Jat factor is also moving very cautiously as the state Jat Mahasabha has given a call to the community not to vote for Congress.

In at least half a dozen constituencies, Jats have in sizeable numbers to affect election outcome.

The ten parliamentary constituencies where election process would begin tomorrow are Ganganagar (SC), Churu, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Pali, Jalore, Barmer, Nagaur, Sikar and Jhunjhunu.

BJP could win only Sikar seat in the last elections while all the others were baggeed by the Congress and its two rebels with huge margins except Jodhpur where the then Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ashok Gehlot could win by a margin of 5,444 votes only. Gehlot later quit his seat after the Assembly elections. (PTI)

Efforts on to fish out bodies of 60 passengers

CHHINDWARA, Aug 10: Intensive efforts were on to fish out bodies of nearly 60 passengers of a Madhya Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (MPSRTC) bus which had plunged into the swollen Jaam river while crossing a bridge near Saunsar town yesterday.

Officials supervising the search operations at the accident site told that only two bodies had been extricated till early this morning.

They said the wreckage of the badly damaged bus had been retrieved from the river bed and Army divers were continuing their efforts to recover the bodies of victims.

A team of divers from Mumbai are also expected to reach here later in the day to join the search operations, State Public Health Engineering Minister Deepak Saxena and District Collector Sanjay Bandopadhyaya were supervising the operations.

The ill-fated bus, which was on its way from Junnardeo to Nagpur, had slipped into the river while crossing the inundated bridge. Its conductor Mahendra Jain however escaped as he had alighted from the vehicle before it entered the bridge.

Meanwhile, shops and establishments in Chhindwara and Saunsar town observed a bandh to mourn the loss of lives in the bus tragedy. (UNI)