Main Page                                                 Archives

Kiran Chaudhary's claim holds up Congress' Gurgaon ticket
by Pankaj Yadav

     New Delhi: The reason behind the Congress holding back its Gurgaon ticket is said to be the strong claim made by former chief minister Bansi Lal for his daughter-in-law and former Delhi Assembly deputy speaker Kiran Chaudhary. Sources at 10 Janpath say that Bansi Lal, who had a couple of months back merged his Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) into the Congress, is campaigning hard to grab the ticket for Kiran, a popular Congress' woman face in Delhi and Haryana. Kiran had lost in the last Delhi Assembly polls from Delhi Cantt. Others making their `legitimate' claims include Dharambir Gauba, a two time state minister, and Madal Lal Grover, a protigi of Minister of State for External Affairs Rao Indrajit Singh who in turn is a close aide of Haryana strongman Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Gauba is said to be belonging to the camp of Ch. Bhajan Lal, former chief minister of the state. The Congress central leadership had tried to pacify both Indrajit and Bansi Lal by giving tickets to their kin, but both are sticking hard to their respective claims. While Indrajit's brother Yadavendra Singh has been fielded from Jatusana, Bansi Lal's both the sons Surender and Randhir have been given tickets from Tosham and Barwala, respectively.

Mayawati to provide outside support to UPA (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Buoyed over reports that the CBI was likely to file a closure report in the Taj corridor corruption case against her, BSP president Mayawati on Friday charged that the BJP-led NDA government had tried to "implicate" her in the matter. She was addressing party's general conference here. "It is a false case. The BJP tied to implicate me as part of conspiracy to seek BSP support. They wanted to pressurise me, but I did not fall in their trap," she told reporters here. Mayawati was asked to comment on a media report that the CBI was set to file a closure report in the Rs.175 crore case in a competent Lucknow court on Attorney General Milon Banerjee`s advice. Observing that the matter was subjudice, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister expressed confidence that she would get full justice. She said in the past too BJP tried to create problems for her by implicating her in the fire float pump case "but the CBI had found me innocent even when BJP was in power. BJP has tried several times to malign my image and the Taj case is the latest example". Closing all doors for reconciliation with BJP, Mayawati announced that her party would provide outside support to UPA government and would go it alone in the assembly polls in all the three states.

Chautala files nomination from Narwana (Go To Top)

     Narwana: Haryana Chief Minister and INLD president Om Prakash Chautala filed his nomination papers from the Narwana constituency amid much fanfare on the "auspicious occasion" of Makar Sankranti today. The Chief Minister filed the papers this afternoon before Returning officer Mohd Shayin. He came here on a specially-designed vehicle, named 'Vijya Rath' (Victory Chariot), aboard which he launched his election campaign from Bahadurgarh on January 12. Chautala had revealed at a recent press conference that he would file his papers, as per the advice of astrologers, on Makar Sankranti. As per Hindu mythology and astrology, the Makar Sankranti is considered auspicious as gods wake up on this day after a long slumber and the Sun enters the favourable 'Uttarayan' phase. Before filing his papers, Chautala paid obeisance at the mazar of Sufi saint Baba Ghaibi Sahib.