GUWAHATI: If the elections are here can the stars be far behind?
Bollywood’s “dream girl” Hema Malini will fly into Assam on Tuesday to address a series of poll rallies for BJP candidates in Dhubri, Nagaon and Guwahati.
A BJP spokesperson said Hema Malini would fly to Guwahati in the morning and take a chopper to Lumding, where she will canvass for the party’s Nagaon candidate Rajen Gohain. She will then fly to Golokgunj to address a public rally for Dhubri candidate Nilomoy Pradhani.
In the afternoon, the Bollywood star will round off her daylong visit by addressing another rally at Pandu in Guwahati where former Union minister Bijoya Chakraborty is the BJP candidate.
The BJP is hoping that star power will be able to provide the spark into the hitherto lacklustre poll scene in the constituency. On April 1, television celebrity Smriti Irani will address a series of public rallies in Assam for the BJP.
Contractors balk
IMPHAL: There’s no time like poll time to indulge in a little bit of arm-twisting.
As political parties intensified their campaign for the two Lok Sabha seats in Manipur, contractors of the Manipur power department on Monday threatened to boycott the elections if their pending bills were not cleared before voting day.
While the Outer Manipur constituency goes to the polls on April 16, the Inner votes on April 22.
“Contractors of the state power department will stay away from the elections along with their families if the pending bills for the completed projects are not cleared before the election,” S. Jugindro Singh, secretary of the All Manipur Electricity Department Contractors and Suppliers’ Association, said on Monday. He said liabilities amounting to Rs 6.29 crore were yet to be cleared by the department. Nearly 100 contractors are members of this association.
Blame game on
GUWAHATI: Election time brings out the most dramatic of charges.
The AGP-BJP combine on Monday alleged that a Congress leader was recently “detained” at the airport here with a briefcase containing Rs 25 lakh, apparently meant for use during the elections.
BJP vice-president Dhruba Prasad Baishya, however, refused to name the leader.
He said the Congress-led government was not taking any steps to check price rise even after the inflation rate came down because it has a “secret understanding” with business lobby. AGP chief spokesperson Atul Bora, who also addressed the media, said chief minister Tarun Gogoi should make public the deal he allegedly struck with tea companies in Calcutta.
