Sabrang Election Monitor Wednesday, March 24, 2004 ______
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Sabrang Election Monitor Wednesday, March 24, 2004 ________________________________________________________ 1. How the BJP stays at the top Have you ever wondered how the BJP almost always manages to pull the rug from under their opponents' feet? The answer lies in a building at Delhi's Ashoka Road. Known to everyone as the BJP headquarters, it is now the party war room where the movement of opponents are mapped and strategies formulated. [Rediff on Net] 2. BJP uses police as poll spy in Goa Panaji, March 23: In a series of dramatic events coinciding with Tuesday’s visit of Election Commissioner B.B. Tandon to the state, the Congress caused the ruling BJP deep embarrassment when it released an internal police memo that directed beat constables to "watch over political activities" and collect and report intelligence on local Opposition politicians. It identified local Opposition leaders by name and party. No instructions were issued regarding the ruling BJP. "Your duty relates to collection of intelligence pertaining to political developments, students movement, activities in madrasas... Activities of political parties like the MGP, the Congress (I), the Janata Dal, the Kruti Nagrik Samiti, activities of villagers from Mopa village, besides activities by MLAs like Jitendra Deshprabhu, Dayanand Narvekar, Ramakant Khalap (sic)," the memo stated. The disclosure late on Monday evening caused a storm within the police and home department headed by Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar. (The) police chief Seva Das has ordered a probe into the affair and suspended the ASI in the interim. [Asian Age] 3. Dynasty rule is OK, if it helps the BJP This brings the total of seats declared to 324, the party general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, said while releasing the list. He indicated that the BJP would contest "364 to 365" Lok Sabha seats in all. To clear the remaining names, the committee would meet again on March 27. As many as 30 BJP MPs of the dissolved Lok Sabha have failed to get the ticket. In Rajasthan, 18 candidates were declared today. Two "sons'', Dushyant Singh, son of the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, and Manvendra Singh, son of the Union Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, have been given the Lok Sabha 1 ticket. Dushyant Singh will contest from Jhalawar, the Lok Sabha constituency won five time by Ms. Raje and vacated by her after she became the Chief Minister less than four months ago. [The Hindu] 4. Congress protests anti-Sonia ad on TV New Delhi, March 23: The Congress on Tuesday objected to an advertisement which raises the issue of Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin without naming her. It requested the Election Commission to take immediate action in the matter, which it said was "violative of the model code of conduct." Party spokesman Kapil Sibal said that the ad, purportedly issued by one Kamakshi Educational Society, seeks "to incite violence and is also against good taste and decency and was a case fit for prosecution." He accused the BJP of indulging in such tactics as its electoral graph was coming down day by day. "They (the BJP) had collaborated with the British during the freedom struggle and now they are accusing Sonia of being a foreigner," he said. AICC general secretary Oscar Fernandes has already written a letter to the Election Commission in the matter. [Asian Age] 5. BJP in for a shock in Jharkhand? The BJP has a lot at stake in this small state. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the party had won 11 out of the 14 seats that fell in the south Bihar region that has become Jharkhand now. In the last 10 years or so, Jharkhand has emerged as one of the strongholds of the BJP, yet another tribal dominated area to turn to the BJP in this period. Things are not the same for the BJP this time. The BJP cannot any more invoke the promise of creating a new State; now it has to account for what it has delivered. What will worry it most is the formidable alliance put together by the Opposition led by the Congress. Assuming that all parties have the vote share that they got in 1999, this alliance, friendly contest and all, is enough to bring the BJP tally down to seven seats, a loss of four seats. If the BJP has lost votes since the last Lok Sabha elections, the effect could be deadly. A loss of two percentage points could bring the BJP down to five seats and a loss of four percentage points will bring the BJP to just three seats in the State. The one factor that can upset all the calculations is the role played by ‘naxalite' groups such as the MCC, the MCCI and the PWG. These groups 2 wield considerable force in constituencies such as Chatra, Palamau, Hazaribagh and Singhbhum and some of them are known not to be averse to material considerations in return for electoral favours. [The Hindu, opinion, Yogendra Yadav] 6. I will contest against Vajpayee: Agnivesh NEW DELHI: Contending that liberal credentials of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken a knock after Gujarat riots, Swami Agnivesh on Tuesday said he would contest the coming Lok Sabha elections against the Prime Minister from Lucknow or support a candidate who was capable of defeating him. "My main objective is that Vajpayee should be defeated," he told reporters here. Agnivesh said he was trying to garner support from opposition parties for his candidature. "I recently met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and I have got a positive response," he said adding he was making efforts to contact Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party leaders. "If I feel there is someone who is more likely to defeat Vajpayee, I will withdraw my candidature and even campaign for him or her," he added. Agnivesh said he would reach Lucknow on Wednesday to gauge people's mood. [The Times of India]. 7. HC ruling pleases Naidu The High Court verdict is a shot in the arm for the ruling TDP in Andhra Pradesh. Having invested heavily both in terms of money, material and manpower in making several television programmes as part of its election campaign, the TDP may now pull out all stops in launching a blitzkrieg on the small screen. The Congress, on the other hand, has mainly chosen the big screen as part of its multi-media campaign. Welcoming the High Court order, the State Information Minister, S. Chandramohan Reddy, said that it would help the candidates and political parties in their campaign. The use of cable television by political parties was quite common in the West because of its cost-effectiveness, he added. Our New Delhi Legal Correspondent reports: Asked by presspersons whether the Election Commission would move the Supreme Court against the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruling, the Deputy Election Commissioner, A.N. Jha, said "the Commission will study the order before deciding on the future course of action." [The Hindu] 8. Sonia, Pawar joint rally in Solapur Mumbai, March 23: Unable to forge an alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Maharashtra, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party alliance are leaving no stone unturned in their show of strength that symbolises the 3 "secular unity" of their tie-up. Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Mr Sharad Pawar will hold their first-ever joint rally at Solapur on March 29. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president, Ranjit Deshmukh, said that the two leaders will offer prayers at the local Tulja Bhavani temple before addressing the people. NCP spokesperson Gurunath Kulkarni, added that the Congress and the NCP have their own strengths. "The rally is being organised to galvanise workers of both parties. We will send a joint message that together, we will fight the communal forces in Maharashtra," he added [Asian Age]. 9. Gujarat Muslims, BJP cold shoulder Arif Ahmedabad, March 23: IT WAS with much fanfare that the BJP welcomed Arif Mohammed Khan into its fold as a prominent Muslim face, with national president Venkaiah Naidu himself in attendance. But — notwithstanding Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s overtures to Muslims — in riot-shadowed Gujarat, where those overtures need to be realised most, the party unit seems to have given Khan a wide berth on his first visit since he became a BJP man. For one, the party did not organise Khan’s Tuesday public meeting: it was left to ‘‘his friends’’, under the banner of an impromptu Bharatiya Samrasta Aur Vikas Samiti. For another, not one BJP leader of importance was present. And, worst of all, only 50-60 people turned up to hear him speak, though Samiti organiser Gajnaffar Khan Pathan had promised have the Ahmedabad town hall packed. So Khan was left trying to persuade a handful of Muslim leaders— among them the BJP’s minority cell chief Gani Khan Qureshi— why they should vote for the BJP and join it. [The Indian Express] · BJP’s illusion trick L.K. Advani has just linked two noteworthy but disparate observations in the expectation of creating a favourable poll-time effect. He has said that a country “as vast and pluralistic as India” can’t be ruled by an ideological party such as the Jan Sangh (which became the BJP). This is quite right and leads naturally to his inference that a party has to be ‘inclusive’ to rule. But is the DPM merely being clever when he notes that the BJP has had to dilute its ideology? Is the audience being invited to assume that since the BJP could come to power, it must also have changed? The linkage is yet to hold up — thanks to the communal mayhem in Gujarat, the wilful distortion of history textbooks and many other recent happenings that suggest otherwise.