Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir are worried about the low turn out in the forthcoming assembly polls in the trouble-torn state. While the cynics put the turn out to be as low as 25 per percent, the political parties are putting up a brave front and dismiss such claims as absurd.
"Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad must explain as to why Riyaz Bhatkal, an accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts, and who is allegedly involved in a series of recent blasts all over the country has not been put to narco tests," Prasad charged.
Bharatiya Janata Party was left red-faced on Friday after rival groups within the party clashed in the open over the nomination of senior party leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra as the chief ministerial candidate for the forthcoming Delhi assembly elections.
"Friday could be the last day before the government summons a fresh session in December, we want fresh session so we could bring no confidence motion against the government," Yechury said.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, nearly cried in the Lok Sabha, when Left party leaders Basudev Acharya and Gurudas Das Gupta attacked him by quoting rules for not allowing them to speak after he had rejected the no confidence motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The motion was moved by the Left parties after Dr Singh refused to report to the House.
Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party disrupted proceedings in the Upper House as Karat read out a confessional statement allegedly given by a riot-accused, who had conceded that Hindu fundamentalists were behind the incidents of violence in Malegaon.
Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natrajan has denied the charge that the Gongress has reached an understanding with Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and promised to make him the chief minister in case his party wins the forthcoming state assembly elections that would be held in seven phases between November 17, and December 24.
Speaking to rediff.com from his residence in Srinagar, Farooq said that the issue would be debated on next Friday during the Hurriyat meeting in the Valley headquarters to take a view on the developments that have taken place since Sunday afternoon.
Polls for assembly constitutencies will begin with the first phase beginning on November 17 and the seventh and last phase of election on December 24.
When his attention was drawn to the statements of Biju Patnaik, Sharad Yadav and other prominent leaders who have described Bajrang Dal as a violent organization, Prasad said that there was ideological difference but BJP does not agree with that perception.
The two-phased polls in Chattisgarh will be held on November 14 and 20 while elections will be held in Madhya Pradesh on November 25, Mizoram and Delhi on November 29 and Rajasthan on December 4. Counting of votes in all the states will be taken up on December 8.
"Holding elections on time would have been beneficial to the main political parties. In the last elections, separatists like Hurriyat Conference had boycotted the elections. They had an impact only in six constituencies whereas other constituencies polled over 60 to 80 per cent," Party general secretary Arun Jaitley said.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj strongly defended National Security Advisor M K Narayanan in the National Integration Council meeting on Monday when Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh took exception to the NSA's reply to his demand for a judicial probe into the Batla House encounter, in which two alleged terrorists and a Delhi police officer were killed.
UTV Spotboy plans to make a film on the life and times of Pan Singh Tomar, who was an icon for budding Indian athletes for his outstanding achievements in sports, especially his gold medal in the Asian Games, before he became a fugitive.
M Venkaiah Naidu, former president of Bharatiya Janata Party, flayed the Union government for threatening to impose president's rule in Orissa amid the continuing communal violence in the state.
Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh, who gave Rs10 lakh to the widow of inspector Mohan Chander Sharma for defending the nation, has now demanded a judicial probe into the alleged encounter, which he describes as fake encounter now.
Days have passed, yet there are no leads in the murder of Delhi journalist Soumya Vishwanathan.
The Delhi police has confirmed that it has not been able to make any headway in the murder of television journalist Soumya Vishwanathan. Somaya was shot dead when she was returning from her office to her residence in Vasant Kunj on Tuesday morning around 2.45. "No, we have no clues so far," Rajan Bhagat Delhi police PRO said.
Jaswant Singh, former external affairs in the National Democratic Alliance government, while taking a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for telling American president George Bush how much Indians loved him, said that none of the preceeding prime ministers had ever made such a comment.
"L K Advani has described Dr Singh as the weakest prime minister but what he has achieved through the nuclear agreement has left our neighbours far behind," Tiwari said.
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