The Hindu : POLL

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 28, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

POLL - POURRI

In high demand

Om Prakash Srivastava `Babloo,' the alleged mafia don who was brought to India from Singapore to face criminal charges, is in high demand in Uttar Pradesh, claims his election manager and lawyer, Ram Ugrah Shukla. The Samajwadi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena are among the major political parties that have asked Babloo to contest the Lok Sabha election as their candidate from jail, according to Mr. Shukla. Babloo wants to contest from the Mirzapur constituency in eastern Uttar Pradesh. In an interview to a local newspaper recently, he had expressed his desire to enter politics.

Principled stand

The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde, is upset these days because some political bigwigs want his wife, Ujwala Shinde, to contest from Solapur and the Congress high command is seriously considering the proposal. Mr. Shinde's problem is principle: two posts should not go to a family and that others should get a chance. He had opposed his wife's candidature a few months ago for the by-poll caused by his resignation from the Lok Sabha after becoming Chief Minister. Party leaders who have proposed Ms. Shinde's name say that the Congress had lost the by-election to the BJP, which had fielded Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil, brother of the NCP leader and present Deputy Chief Minister, Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil. The BJP is expected to repeat the move and the Congress leaders want to counter it with the popularity of the Shindes, taking no chances though the NCP is a poll ally.

No takers

The Marumalarchi Munnetra Kazhagam leader, Vaiko, started his election campaign at Vadipatti in Dindigul constituency, even before the announcement of the Congress candidate. However, Congress workers did not turn up at Kodai Road, Madurai-Dindigul district border for his meeting. District-level leaders of other political parties representing the Democratic Progressive Alliance, including the former Minister, I. Periasamy (DMK), the Dindigul MLA, K. Balabarathi (CPI-M) and the CPI district secretary, Santhanam, had assembled at a resting place near district border. But no Congressman turned up.

Ram and Lakshman

Punjab's former BJP legislator, Laxmi Kanta Chawla, attracted major applause at the public rally here when she sought an assurance from the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani that those indulging in female foeticide and seeking dowry be debarred from contesting polls. Ms. Chawla said that the Vajpayee-Advani duo, whom she referred to as `Ram-Laxman', had already won hearts through the enactment of a law banning defections and limiting the size of the Council of Ministers.

— J.P. Shukla, Arunkumar Bhatt, K. Raju, Sarabjit Pandher

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