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| CBI team returns tracing Quattrocchi’s funds NEW DELHI, May 16: A special CBI team, probing the kickback received by Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in.....more Delhi CM
emerges NEW DELHI, May 16: The stunning victory of the Congress in Delhi has consolidated Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s.....more DMK cannot
claim credit CHENNAI, May 16: Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) general secretary Thol Thirumavalavan today said the DMK, which.......more BJP’s
dream to make BANGALORE, May 16: It is a dream yet to come true for the BJP in Karnataka failing to garner adequate seats in the....more |
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30 new entrants from UP in 14th Lok Sabha LUCKNOW, May 16: Altogether 30 of the total 80 members of the new Lok Sabha from Uttar Pradesh would be new.....more Cong win
brings good NEW DELHI, May 16: The impressive electoral victory for Congress may have brought cheers for party supporters, but.......more DMK’s
demand for CHENNAI, May 16: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa.......more Accused
say Judge MUMBAI, May 16: Efforts by the accused in the multi-crore MPSC scam to seek a change of Judge have come to nought......more |
CBI team returns tracing Quattrocchi’s funds NEW DELHI, May 16: A special CBI team, probing the kickback received by Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Rs 1437 crore Bofors gun deal, has got some clinching evidence in the case. The team, which returned last week, has traced the movement of money to the accused Quattrichhi’s London accounts, CBI sources said. The sources said the team headed by Additional Director Vijay Shankar visited four nations tracing the route of the Rs 21 crore (three million euros and one million dollars) kickback of the accused deposited in two accounts in a bank at London. The three-member team which left on April 25, visited Britain, Switzerland, the United States and Bahamas to trace the money received by Quattrochhi, one of the main accused in the Rs 64 crore Bofors payoff case. The agency sources said the money was first deposited in Switzerland from where it was shifted to Gurnsey island. The kickback was then shifted to two different accounts in Austria and again sent back to Switzerland. The money in Switzerland was further diverted to various accounts in the United States and Austria. From Austria, it was shifted to the UK through the Bahamas, the agency said. After obtaining a letter rogatory from a Delhi Court, the CBI team had been in touch with the Bahamas authorities for details about Quattrocchi’s accounts. The team held talks with the Bahamas authorities through a legal firm to extract details about the sources of the funds. The CBI official said the team had gone in pursuance of letters rogatory issued to the Governments of UK, Switzerland and Bahamas by a court here requesting those countries to conduct investigations. It had not gone to carry out probe as CBI does not have jurisdiction in this regard in a foreign country, he said. The team’s visit was also necessary in view of the change of law in Bahamas with regard to entertaining a foreign country’s request in connection with the probe, the spokesman said. Quattrocchi’s two accounts in London were frozen last year on the CBI’s request. The British Government had requested the CBI to submit proof by June 2004 that the money was the kickback from Bofors, otherwise it would not be possible to keep the account frozen for long. The sources said Quattrocchi, in a deceitful manner, had been transferring the funds from one account to another to evade detection by the law. Quattrocchi had maintained in the past that he was not involved in the Bofors payoffs and was being targeted for political reasons. Quattrocchi, against whom an interpol red corner notice is pending, had amounts of three million euros and one million dollars in account numbers 5a51516l and 5a51516m in BSI AG, London. A Delhi Court had chargesheeted Hinduja brothers — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand — and the Bofors company for paying a kickback of Rs 64 crore to clinch the Rs 1437 crore Bofors Howitzer gun deal in 1986. The case against Quattrocchi is pending in a Delhi Court. (UNI) |
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Delhi CM emerges stronger after LS victory NEW DELHI, May 16: The stunning victory of the Congress in Delhi has consolidated Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s hold on her party, making her the unquestioned leader of the capital. After her second successive win in the last Assembly elections and in the civic elections earlier, the almost clean sweep in the Lok Sabha elections has come as a shot in the arm for Ms Dikshit, enough to silence her detractors in the party. The BJP, which had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the 1999 elections, this time lost six to the Congress, with the Chief Minister’s son Sandeep Dikshit, a debutant in politics, defeating three times BJP MP Lal Bihari Tewari by a margin of about two lakhs. Ms Dikshit could not have secured a more prestigious win as it was on this seat that she was defeated by the BJP in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. Mr Dikshit has thus avenged his mother’s defeat on a seat considered to be a BJP fortress. Another morale booster was the victory of Delhi Assembly Speaker Ajay Maken, a young party leader considered to be her protege, over Union Tourism and Culture Minister and veteran BJP leader Jagmohan in the VIP constituency of New Delhi. Mr Jagmohan has been winning the seat for last three elections. This is the constituency which has returned Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani in 1991 and 1989. The last time the Congress won from this constituency was in 1985 when K C Pant was elected. So it is after about 20 years that this seat has returned to the Congress. Former cabinet colleague of the Chief Minister, Krishna Tirath has also won, defeating sitting BJP MP Anita Arya from Karol Bagh reserved constituency. However, Pradesh Congress president Prem Singh and senior party leader Jagdish Tytler, who won Delhi Sadar seat, both of whom are not counted among the Chief Minister’s supporters gave the credit for victory only to party chief Sonia Gandhi, completely excluding any reference to the performance of the Sheila Dikshit Government. But Jat leader Sajjan Kumar who humbled Union Labour Minister Saheb Singh Verma in the outer Delhi constituency, has included good governance in the capital as one of the reasons for the party’s spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha elections. When the Sheila Dikshit Government came to power ousting the BJP in the capital in 1998, it was called "Aaloo, Pyaz Ki Sarkar" (onion, potato Government), alluding to the sharp hike in the prices of onion and potato that had made these commodities out of reach for the commonman. However, the Congress’s thumping victory in the last Assembly elections again proved that Ms Dikshit’s Government had this time got positive votes. Now with the party’s resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections, Ms Dikshit may well claim that along with Ms Gandhi’s Charisma, her Government’s performance has also been appreciated by the metro voter. Moreover, with her party’s Government at the Centre, she would now find it easy to have her way in governing the capital. (UNI) |
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DMK cannot claim credit for DPA victory in TN: DPI CHENNAI, May 16: Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) general secretary Thol Thirumavalavan today said the DMK, which heads the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) in Tamil Nadu, cannot take credit for its sweeping victory in the May 10 Lok Sabha polls. The DPA’s thumping win was due to the anti-AIADMK wave in the state and the "hatred wave" against the BJP in the national scenario. Besides, the strength of the DPA’s constituents also contributed to its victory. "The DMK cannot take credit for routing the AIADMK-BJP combine by winning all the 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, as there is no significant wave in favour of the DPA," he added. A look at the votes polled by the DPA and the AIADMK candidates showed that the ruling party’s vote bank had not been eroded even by one per cent. "Most of them had secured over two lakh votes," he pointed out. Taking a dig at his bete noire and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader S Ramadoss, Mr Thirumavalavan said the PMK, which always "emerged victorious" by "riding piggyback" on the Dravidian parties, did not have enough gumption to take the DPI head-on. Castigating the DMK for not recognising the DPI despite polling over two lakh votes in the 1999 and 2004 polls, he said the PMK, which had contested elections on its own thrice (in 1981, 1991, 1996 elections) but could not secure more than 1.5 lakh votes, was being recognised by DMK chief M Karunanidhi. On the gains obtained by the DPI, which had formed a third front in association with other Dalit parties under the banner of people’s alliance for the polls, Mr Thirumavalavan, who finished second and pushed the AIADMK-BJP combine to the third spot in the Chidambaram (reserved) Lok Sabha constituency, told newspersons here today that even though the political leaders had failed to recognise the DPI, the people had not. To drive home his point, he said in this election PMK candidate E Ponnusamy had polled 4,000 votes less than the one in 1999 and his victory margin had come down from 1.21 lakh votes to 89,000. This proved that the DPI had gained 32,000 votes in Chidambaram. The DPI leader claimed the mass deletion of about 60,000 to 70,000 Dalit votes from the electoral rolls in Chidambaram had resulted in his loss. PMK activists had indulged in booth capturing and prevented Dalits from voting, he alleged. The number of votes secured by the DPI in the election showed that it was a force to reckon with in the state, Mr Thirumavalavan said adding "this was a big victory." The people had taught the Dravidian parties a "fitting lesson for sidelining the Dalits," he noted. (UNI) |
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DMK’s demand for resignation funny : Jaya CHENNAI, May 16: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa today described as "atrocious" and "funny," the demand by the DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA), seeking her resignation owning moral responsibility for the massive deletion of voters from the electoral rolls and said her Government was not responsible for it. Dismissing the resolution passed at the DPA meeting demanding her resignation yesterday, Ms Jayalalithaa, in a five-page statement here, said it was a "deliberate and planned" attempt by the DPA to cast aspersions on the AIADMK and "malign" its image. She admitted that names of lakhs of voters, including a majority of the AIADMK men, were either found missing or deleted from the electoral rolls. It was also true that the DMK had included lakhs of bogus voters in the list, she alleged. In such a scenario, the DPA’s demand seeking her Government’s resignation owning moral responsibility, was "funny," she added. "Will any party indulge in such acts that will lead to the party’s defeat in the elections? Will the people believe it?" She asked and alleged that the DMK was planning to shift the blame on the AIADMK to "divert" the people’s attention. The DMK was making such a demand to hide its mistake (of enrolling bogus voters), she alleged and said it was the AIADMK which took up the issue with the Election Commission demanding action against those responsibile for it. While the AIADMK had lodged its complaint to the Election Commission on the polling day itself (on May 10), the DMK was now passing a resolution to this effect, Ms Jayalalithaa claimed. Despite being aware that the Tamil Nadu Government was not responsible for the mass deletion of names and could not own up responsbility, the DMK was making false charge against the AIADMK and also went to the extent of demanding her resignation, she said. "The resignation demand is slanderous," she said adding that the preparation of electoral rolls did not come under the purview of the State Government. "It was the sole responsibility of the Election Commission, which was autonomous. Is DMK president M Karunanidhi, who has been in politics for so many years and a former Chief Minister himself, not aware of this," she asked and condemned the resolution. Ms Jayalalithaa criticised Mr Karunanidhi for claiming to have created history by winning all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry as the AIADMK and its allies had bagged all the 40 seats in the 1991 elections. (UNI) |
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Accused say Judge biased, court
rejects MUMBAI, May 16: Efforts by the accused in the multi-crore MPSC scam to seek a change of Judge have come to nought with a local court here rejecting their appeal to transfer the case to any other court. City Civil and Sessions Court Principal Judge R R Wachha recently rejected their petition praying for a change in the Judge conducting the trial proceedings. Avinash Tukaram Sanas and 15 others had made an application before Principal Judge Wachha praying for transfer of the case from Additional Session Judge P N Deshmukh to any other Judge. They had mentioned in their petition that "the concerned Judge is biased, prejudiced, unfair and unjust and if the case is not transferred to any other court then they will not get fair and natural justice." It was further alleged that the investigating officer had sponsored the trip of the concerned Judge to Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu and Kashmir. The accused also said the concerned Judge had been granting extention for investigation since last one-and-half years just to keep the accused behind bars. It was also further stated that the concerned Judge never scrutinised the dairy nor verified what the police said anytime during the investigation. He only heard the prosecution and passed orders without hearing the accused or their lawyers. Rejecting the petition, Judge Wachha observed that orders passed by the designated court were judicial orders which, by way of transfer application, could not be challenged by the accused. He, however, said the remedy available to the accused was to move the appellate court. Mr Wachha also observed that there appeared to be nothing on record to show that the concerned court had fallen directly or indirectly under the influence of the prosecution. Accused Sanas has also pointed out that the case, which was unearthed in 2002 was prima facie a case of forgery,cheating and criminal breach of trust, which should have been filed at the Azad Maidan Police Station which has juridiction for investigation of the said matter. However, the FIR was lodged with the anti-corruption bureau though no provision of prevention of corruption act were attracted to the case then. On the complaint filed by Seema Dhamdhere, secretary MPSC, as regards the offence in 2002 under verious sections of Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Prevention of Malpractices at University Board and other Specified Examination Act, 1982 was registered. Proseuction, however, submitted in their reply that during the course of investigation 10 stages of conspiracy was disclosed. The prosecution said in the conspiracy 25 people were arrested and more arrests were likely to be made. The proseuction furter said in their reply that some applicant accused were arrested earlier on three occasions in the MPSC question paper leak case. But, they were on bail in an earlier case. It was also submitted that applicant accused alongwith co-conspirators were running an organised crime syndicate for the last many years. The prosecution pointed out that the accused had even gone to the extent of planning to kill the IO, but the plan which was leaked in jail and necessary timely action could be taken by the vigilant jail authorities. (UNI) Less than a third of MLAs return to Karnataka Assembly BANGALORE, May 16: The strong anti-incumbency wave in Karnataka swept away 117 of the 187 members who sought re-election in the elections that threw up a hung assembly. Only 70 members could manage to win back with the Congress accounting for the highest number of 42 followed by the BJP 19, the Janata Dal (S) six, the Janata Dal (U) two and independent one. The Congress, aiming to return back to power, had nominated 139 members including a few who joined the party from the JD(U) just before the elections. Among them only 42 survived the anti-incumbency wave. As many as 31 ministers including senior ones like D B Chandre Gowda (Sringeri), A B Malaka Reddy (Yadgir), Kagodu Thimmappa (Sagar) and H Vishwanath (Krishnaraja Nagar) tasted defeat. Even Speaker M V Venkatappa(Mulbagal) and Deputy Speaker Manohar Tahsildar (Hangal) had to bite the dust. Those who emerged victorious were poll veterans N Dharam Singh and Mallikarjuna Kharge who won an eighth term from their respective constituencies of Jewargi and Gurmitkal, Dr G Parameshwara (Madhugiri). Chief Minister S M Krishna shifted from his home constituency of Maddur and won from Chamarajpet in the city. Other ministers who made it to the new Assembly were D K Shivakumar (Sathnur) and A Krishnappa (Varthur) against whom serious corruption charges were levelled by both the JD (S) and the BJP opposition parties. Similarly, other ministers who had resigned, Roshan Baig (Jayamahal) and Kumar Bangarappa (Soraba) also tasted success. While Mr Baig had to quit the Krishna cabinet on allegation of his involvement in the fake stamp paper scam, Mr Kumar Bangarappa quit the party for a brief one week honeymoon with the BJP before returning to the Congress-fold. He waged a grim battle against his brother Madhu Bangarappa (BJP) to make it to the Assembly again. For the BJP, 19 of the 30 members given tickets won. Prominent losers included party spokesman Sureshkumar (Rajajinagar), a Ramdas (Krishnaraja) and Chandrakant Bellad (Dharwad). Among the ten JD (S) candidates of the previous house, five returned. They included former minister P G R Sindhia who had joined the JD(S) just before the elections from the JD (U). Among the three JD (U) members renominated party president B Somesekhar (Malavali) lost. Former Janata Dal Minister Jayaprakash Hegde who contested as an independent for a second term from Brahmavar won this time also. (UNI) After election debacle, its
free-for-all in THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, May 16: After the debacle it suffered in the Lok Sabha election in Kerala, it is once again a free-for-all in the state unit of the Congress. Second-rung leaders of the party are vying with one other to appear in television shows and press conferences to give their assessment of the party’s historic wash-out in the May 10 elections in the state. The leaders are busy putting the blame for the party’s debacle on each other. With Chief Minister A K Antony and veteran leader K Karunakaran at the receiving end of such attacks, their loyalists are also holding press conferences to defend the stand of the two leaders. There are speculations that certain senior leaders are trying to fish in troubled waters in the hope of a leadership change. The Congress wash-out in the election was mainly attributed to the ugly in-fighting within the party just before the elections. In the era of electronic media, the ‘performance’ of politicians are keenly watched by voters. It was an address by suspended KPCC general secretary Rajmohan Unnithan in front of the Congress headquarters here, shown live by a satellite channel, that unfolded the "rotten stories" within the Congress. The viewers might have been shocked to hear about "sex, lies and video tape" in the Congress. The address forced the Congress high command to give Mr Unnithan and another suspended PCC general secretary Saratchandra Prasad, who was holding a fast-unto-death in front of the party headquarters protesting against the suspension, an assurance that their suspensions would be revoked. Obviously, the public viewed it as an attempt by the party to stop the two suspended leaders from further revealing the "rotten stories," as was threatened by them. Just before the elections, after nearly an year-long bitter in-fighting between the groups led by Mr Karunakaran and Mr Antony, peace was "purchased" through a patch-up formula that saw the then PCC chief K Muraleedharan swearing in as a minister. Besides, Mr Karunakaran was given a Rajya Sabha seat and his daughter Padmaja Venugopal a ticket for the Lok Sabha election. At the peak of the in-fighting, Mr Karunakaran even announced at a group convention his decision to float a new party, but subsequently backtracked from the decision after his son refused to stand with him. Though Mr Karunakaran’s demand was for a leadership change in the state, Mr Antony came up with a compromise solution and offered a cabinet berth to Mr Muraleedharan. Mr Saratchandra Prasad had stated earlier at a press conference that Mr Muraleedharan did not turn up as expected at the convention in which Mr Karunakaran announced the new party named after Indira Gandhi because certain ‘a’ group leaders had allegedly blackmailed him with a cassettee involving him. With Mr Antony and Mr Karunakaran renewing their ties, both of them allegedly shared party tickets for allotment between themselves without taking the other groups into confidence. AICC general secretaries Vayalar Ravi, Ramesh Chennithala and senior leader P C Chacko protested against the manner in which the seats were allotted. Later, Mr Unnithan openly alleged that there were only "payment seats" and "management quota" in the Congress and there was no consideration for merit. This statement led to his suspension on disciplinary grounds. "If the party faces the election in such a manner, all of them except the Captain (Mr Karunakaran who contested a Rajya Sabha seat) will sink," he had said. When Mr Unnithan stated this at a press conference, even he might not have imagined a wash-out for the Congress in the election. Before becoming the Electricity Minister, Mr Muraleedharan also went on criticising the Antony Government, saying the party would not win any seat if it faced the Lok Sabha election under the present leadership. He might have changed his stand after becoming the minister, but it appears that the voters in Wadakkancherry Assembly constituency were not willing to forget or forgive. He faced a humiliating defeat in the Congress stronghold and failed to make an entry into the State Assembly. Even his sister Padmaja Venugopal was defeated in the Mukundapuram Lok Sabha constituency, which is a Congress-led United Democratic Front bastion, by more than one lakh votes. With both his children and other nominees failing to win, Mr Karunakaran is likely to lose his command over the party leadership. Only if it is willing to learn lessons from its mistakes, can the party, which came to power in the State Assembly three years ago with 100 seats in the 140 member house, make a strong comeback. (UNI) K’taka has assortment of MPs in 14th LS BANGALORE, May 16: A former Prime Minister, a former city Police Commissioner, a retired Chief Justice, a television journalist, a film star and an ex-Deputy Speaker are among the 28 elected to the Lok Sabha from Karnataka in the two-phase elections held on April 20 and 26. Former City Police Commissioner H T Sangliana, who joined the BJP after retirement, successfully ended the winning streak of former Union Minister C K Jaffer Sharief (Cong) and trounced C M Ibrahim (Janata Dal-secular) in Bangalore (north). Sangliana, who a Karnataka cadre IPS officer, is a Mizo and had preferred to settle down in Bangalore after retirement. A daredevil, Sangliana had been named a supercop for his exploits as a policeman. He had turned a spoilsport for the Congress when he demanded a CBI inquiry into the fake stamp paper racket in view of the inter-state ramifications of the scam. His courageous acts against criminals have also been portrayed in films. Another giant-killing novice was Tejaswini Sree Ramesh (Congress), who till recently was a media journalist with Kannada television channel ‘Udaya’. She pushed former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda to the third spot in Kanakapura, a constituencies which has a large electorate of over 2.7 million in the state. Mr Deve Gowda, who had won the by-election about two years ago from the same constituency, finished third behind BJP’s Ramachandra Gowda. However, Mr Deve Gowda won from his home constituency of Hassan by a huge margin over a minister in the Krishna cabinet H C Srikantaiah. Another distinguished personality to win the election was former Orissa Chief Justice N Y Hanumanthappa, who defeated former Director General of Police P Kodandaramaiah in Chitradurga, on a Congress ticket. Former Lok Sabha member from the constituency, C P Mudaligiriyappa, who joined the BJP from the Congress, finished third. Known as a rebel star, Ambareesh won another term to the Lok Sabha from Mandya for the Congress. However, the Congress suffered defeat in the Assembly segments of the Parliamentary constituency in the Assembly elections. Its candidates lost to Janata Dal (S) nominees in five JD(S) candidates, while winning only two. One segment in this Lok Sabha seat was bagged by the Janata Dal (U). Among the not-so-lucky ones among non-politicians to make it to the Lok Sabha was retired Chief Secretary B S Patil, who was a Congress nominee. He lost to BJP candidate in Dharwad north. A religious head, Jagadguru Mathe Mahadevi (Kannada Nadu Paksha), also lost from Dharwad north. (UNI) Cong-NCP fail to break ice with voters in Maharashtra MUMBAI, May 17: The Congress and NCP, partners in the Democratic Front (DF) coalition Government in Maharashtra, failed to break ice with voters in the 2004 elections due to the anti-incumbency factor, political analysts say. Out of the total 48 Parliamentary constituencies, congress won 13 seats, NCP nine and RPI (a) one while Shiv Sena bagged 12 and BJP 13. For the Congress-NCP, the results are only a slight improvrment over their 1999 tally of ten and six respectively. The Shiv Sena had won 15 and BJP 13 seats while the JD(S), BBM, PWP and EPI (a) had one seat each. Political observers feel that the performance of the Congress-led alliance in the Lok Sabha elections should sound a warning bell for the coalition Government, which goes to Assembly elections later this year. Analysts also attribute the election results in the state to a desire for change, multi-cornered fights in most of the constituencies and factors like rising unemployment among educated youth and labour class, effect on the middle class due to the state Government’s conomic policies as well as the decisive mandate of the Hindi speaking voters, especially in Mumbai. On the other hand, choice of candidates and the caste factor, infighting within the Congress and differences among the Congress and NCP, distribution of seats in the state and the issue of regional imbalance played a crucial role, analysts say. The 1999 Lok Sabha elections were held three months after the Congress split with Sharad Pawar raising a banner of revolt against Sonia Gandhi on the foreign origin issue. Despite the split, Congress had polled the highest 29.71 per cent of votes while the breakaway outfit NCP had polled 21.57 per cent votes. The Cong-NCP leaders were hopeful that with a pre-poll alliance this time, the coalition would thwart the attempts of SS-BJP to garner more seats. The Congress-NCP were hoping that the coalition would bag more than 28 seats. Congress was almost wiped out in its stronghold of Vidarbha, retaining only one the Nagpur seat out of the total four seats it held in 1999. In Marathwada, the party drew a blank losing Latur and Nanded which it had won in 1999. The losses in Vidarbha and Marathwada were made up by the significant wins in Mumbai where the party gained five seats and one each in Dahanu and Pune. The party managed to retain its seat in Sangli in western Maharashtra. Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s wife Ujjwala lost Solapur to the BJP by a margin of over 5000 votes. On the other hand, the NCP managed to wrest the Hingoli and beed seat in Marathwada from the Shiv Sena and BJP respectively while it also upset the combine in north Maharashtra wresting Nashik from Shiv Sena and Ahmednagar from the BJP. However, it lost khed situated in western Maharashtra to the Shiv Sena. Democratic front ally RPI (a) too fared poorly with only Ramdas Athavale retaining his Pandharpur seat while other Dalit leaders R S Gavai and Jogendra Kawade bit the dust from Amravati and Chimur respectively. The BJP’s tally in Vidarbha rose to six from the two seats it held earlier in 1999. However, its gains in the Congress bastion of Vidarbha were eclisped by the losses it suffered to the Congress in three seats of Mumbai and one each in Dahanu and Pune. Shiv Sena lost three seats -Nashik, Hingoli and Kopargaon, but wrested Khed from NCP. The defeats in Latur, Nanded, Solapur shocked the Congress. The results indicate that reveal that Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Jansampark Abhiyan’ in Maharashtra , despite getting overwhelming response did not get translated into votes for the party. Sonia-Pawar held a joint public meeting for the first time in five years in Solapur. The Congress president also campaigned for the NCP candidate in Osmanabad and toured Vidarbha, where the Congress performed miserably. With only three to four months to go for the Assembly elections, political analysts say the Congress needs to get its act together fast to rejuvanate the state party unit. Congress sources said the developmental packages announced by the State Government for Vidarbha and other backward regions would be implemented effectively before the Assembly elections. They said the package, which was announced before the Lok Sabha elections could not be implemented as the electoral Code of Conduct came into force. According to the BJP, the "anti-incumbency factor" had led to the poor showing of the parties in power. The state unit drew satisfaction that the SS-BJP combine succeeded in containing the Congress party’s overall tally in the Lok Sabha despite. (UNI) |
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