Month: March 2014

In a sharp attack on Narendra Modi and BJP campaign centric around him, expelled party veteran Jaswant Singh on Sunday deprecated “veneration” of an individual and said world was full of graveyards of those who are considered indispensable to their nation.

Singh, who was expelled by the party on Saturday for six years for refusing to withdraw his nomination as an independent form Barmer, further added that no political party should become handmaiden of an individual.

AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal Sunday accused the Gujarat government of removing the economic data from its official website.

Kejriwal, who has dismissed the economic model of Gujarat which is led by the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, asked why the state government is avoiding scrutiny.

“I heard Gujarat Govt has removed all economic data from its website. Why? To avoid scrutiny?” Kejriwal tweeted.

According to reports, the Gujarat government had blocked access to official economic data on its website. It later restored some access to it.

Though the Congress left no stone unturned to ensure that party president Sonia Gandhi’s Sunday rally at Ajmal Khan Park here was a success, some people were not excited about the event with one saying all parties were the same and there was no expectation from any of them.

Congress volunteers and party leaders were seen monitoring the arrangements, asking police to allow in the crowd that was initially not let in due to lack of space.

Though the venue was relatively a small one, it was more or less packed.

Magician P.C.Sorcar, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket from West Bengal’s Barasat, has been slapped a show cause notice by the Election Commission for making derogatory comments against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and his Trinamool Congress rival.

Two days back, without naming the chief minister, Sorcar had said while campaigning: “She says those who have raped, they are naughty boys. I ask her, if she is raped. What will she do?”

With the Lok Sabha election less than 10 days away, President Pranab Mukherjee Sunday said people will no longer accept non-transparent and unresponsive administration.

Mukherjee stressed “urgency” in decision-making and transforming public administration into a dynamic and “result oriented entity”.

“People are demanding better and more efficient administration. They would no longer tolerate non-transparent and unresponsive administration,” he said after inaugurating the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) here.

Mocking Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for raising the Gujarat model of development, BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Sunday said the Congress is “shaking in fear” ahead of the Lok Sabha poll as it knows it will be ousted.

Former JD-U leader Sabir Ali Sunday said BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi should either substantiate his allegations or apologise for his comment that Ali has terror links.

“I ask Naqvi to either give me proof or apologise. A defamation notice has been prepared and will be sent to him through my lawyers,” Ali said at a press conference.

“I am ready to hang myself if he (M.A. Naqvi) can prove my relations with any terrorist,” added Ali.

As the mercury touched 40 degrees Celsius in Kolkata, Congress candidate Somen Mitra was seen campaigning on the streets with a water tanker in tow Sunday.

The veteran leader, who is in the fray from the Kolkata North seat, made his rounds of the Burrabazar area with his party workers accompanied by the tanker.

From tired party workers, to the on-duty police personnel, all were seen quenching their thirst from the taps fitted to the tanker.

“The tanker was a boon for us in battling the sweltering heat,” said a Congress worker.