New Delhi: Congress leader Jagdish Tytler is courting trouble again. An FIR was lodged against him on Thursday for making caste-based remarks against Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

The FIR was filed against Tytler and Sharma here this afternoon by Dalit Kranti Morcha leader Vidhanchandra Rana. The duo faces charges under various sections of the SC/ST Prevention Act 1989, police said, adding an inquiry was ordered into the matter.

Besides Tytler, who is the Congress in-charge of Bihar, the head of party’s state unit Anil Sharma has also been made an accused in the case.

The use of caste names in the list of Bihar PCC office-bearers and dragging Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar into a controversy has deeply embarrassed the Congress leaders who have washed their hands off the issue pleading ignorance.

Sharma has been blamed for the row that has shown Congress in a poor light. The Speaker, a permanent invitee to the PCC, has her caste mentioned in the Bihar PCC office bearers’ list signed by Tytler.

Meanwhile, reacting to it Meira Kumar said, "I belong to a political party. As a Speaker, I believe in strict neutrality of the chair."

Congress leader and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is the daughter of the late Deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram- one of the tallest Dalit leader of his time.

Rana alleged that both Tytler and Sharma violated the act by naming castes of the leaders in the list and termed the act as "a constitutional crime."

Sharma had denied having released the list with caste details and described it as "handiwork of forces inimical to him."

Mumbai: Shiv Sena Supremo Bala Saheb Thackeray's daughter in law Smita Thackeray is likely to leave Shiv Sena for joining the Congress. The announcement regarding it might come anytime.

In an interview to a Newspaper, Smita has sung praises of the Congress and its chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Smita says that she is in touch with senior leaders of the Congress in Delhi. She said that she was impressed with the working style of Sonia and Rahul and wanted to work with them.

She said that she couldn't stand suffocation in regional politics and wanted to join the Congress.

If Smita joins the Congress, it will be a big blow to Thackeray family after Raj who quit the party only to float MNS.

48-year-old Smita Thackeray has great intervention in Shiv Sena's affairs and no important decision is taken without her consent.

Ranchi: The Congress and the BJP today crossed swords over continuing poverty in rural part of the country during high voltage campaigning for the Jharkhand assembly elections.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi attacked BJP for its erstwhile 'India Shining' campaign, while the saffron party president Rajnath Singh struck back asking why the Congress had "failed" to eradicate poverty though it ruled the country for five decades.

"For them, India shone for the rich, but your mandate taught them that India was not shining for backwards, dalits, tribals and the poor and elected the government of Manmohan Singh (in 2004), Rahul told an election meeting.

"You also voted the UPA in the May general elections," he added.

Singh, at a press conference when asked to comment on Rahul's statement, said "who is responsible for the plight of the poor? The Congress ruled for 52 years but failed to eradicate poverty."

Gandhi said "when I took a British minister to a village to show the power of the toiling people that moves India's development, the opposition said I was showing him poverty."

"They (opposition) are ashamed of it, but we are not, because we would like to include farmers and hardworking people in the future development of the country," Gandhi said.

Singh, however, countered that the Congress should not 'hoodwink' the people with the 'politics of poverty' and said the poor were hard-pressed because of spiralling prices.

The BJP president sought to know why India still lagged behind when small European countries found places in the club of developed nations in just about two decades.

He said the BJP would give all BPL families 35kg of rice at Rs1 per kilo and salt at 25 paise per kilo per month if voted to power in Jharkhand.

Gandhi said that the Centre had earmarked funds and launched welfare programmes for Jharkhand, but it could be properly implemented only by a like-minded government coming to power.

"We are funding many schemes, but it is the state government which has to implement them, and this can happen only when a government works in tandem with the Centre," Gandhi said.

The BJP-led NDA had ruled Jharkhand for six out of nine years of its creation.

Fake encounter killings per se are condemnable. Unfortunately, they have become a common occurrence in our country. The recent report of a

GVLN Rao Political analyst and BJP member

metropolitan magistrate that the 2004 encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan and three of her friends suspected to be members of a LeT terrorist module on a mission to kill Narendra Modi were faked has made big news for two political reasons. Firstly, the encounter killings happened in Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat and secondly, because they involved the minority community.

The facts coming to light about the encounter killings are revealing. The information that they were militant suspects on a mission was a tip-off by the central intelligence agency to the state’s crime branch and earlier, the central government in an affidavit supported the stand of the state government. The change in stance of the central government purely for political reasons has infuriated even the Gujarat High Court yesterday, where the matter is pending.

The Congress party’s eagerness to make political capital out of everything, involving even the sentiments of minority community is deplorable. First of all, it is yet to be established whether the encounter killings are real or fake. Whatever are the facts in this case, fake encounter killings are unacceptable in a civilised society. They ought to be condemned and the culprits brought to book, irrespective of wherever they happen and whoever is involved in them, irrespective of the caste or creed of the victims. It is here the motives of the Congress party are suspect as it has been oblivious to the cries of alleged fake encounters of “innocent” youths causing a turmoil in the north-eastern hill state of Manipur over the past few days.

The Congress party must find better methods of fighting Gujarat’s popularly elected CM. Flinging mud at him on flimsy grounds would boomerang on the party as happened in the case of Sohrabuddin — an established criminal involved in some heinous crimes — whom the Congress projected as a martyr and then suffered adverse electoral consequences. The Congress should take on Narendra Modi in the electoral battlefield rather than squander its time by fighting him in press conferences.

Guwahati, Aug 19 :The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), an alliance partner of the ruling Congress-led government in Assam, is angry with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his “incorrect” statement that the utilisation of the Rs.750 crore central package for the Bodoland area was unsatisfactory.
“First of all, the prime minister is factually incorrect when he said that the Rs.750 crore was allotted for development works in Bodoland area. In fact, the package was for Rs.500 crore and we are yet to get the entire amount,” Hagrama Mohilary, leader of the BPF and the chief of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), told IANS Wednesday.
The prime minister Monday told a meeting of the chief ministers in New Delhi that “utilisation of Rs.750 crore meant for development of the Bodoland area was unsatisfactory”.
“It seems some vested interests, could be bureaucrats, misguided and wrongly briefed the prime minister’s office on fund allocation for the Bodoland. We are shocked and surprised to hear a factually incorrect figure from the prime minister,” Biswajit Daimary, BPF MP in Rajya Sabha, said.
The BPF leaders said they would welcome a probe to look into the development works under the central package.
“Let the prime minister visit Bodoland and see the development works personally. We would welcome any investigation,” Daimary said.
Angry at the prime minister’s statement, BPF leaders led by Mohilary late Tuesday met union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai in New Delhi to lodge a formal protest.
“We expressed our displeasure at the factual error in the prime minister’s written speech and asked him to communicate our point of view,” the BPF leader said.
“We would appreciate a clarification from the Prime Minister’s Office on this issue.”
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has also admitted that the central package was for Rs.500 crore and that another Rs.250 crore was to be sanctioned upon completion of the first package.
The BPF with 10 legislators in the 126 member Assam assembly is a key partner of the Congress party that has 54 legislators. There are five associate members and five independents supporting the government.

BANGALORE - A candidate of the Congress Party has become the country’s richest poll candidate with declared assets of worth 7.70 billion rupees.


Priya Krishna, the 25-year-old candidate contesting the by-polls from Govindraj Nagar constituency in Bangalore, is the son of a legislator Krishnappa and runs a real estate business.

He has declared rupees 2.50 billion in cash, Fixed Deposits worth 500 million, scores of luxury cars like Audi worth 760 million rupees and Mantero worth 260 million rupees for personal and business use and loans of rupees one billion for business purposes, to the Election Commission.

By venturing into politics, the young businessman wants to serve the countrymen and nation.

“Its not about declaration, its about what I have given to the income tax. Whatever income tax return I’ve filed, I’ve submitted to the Election Commission. I want to serve the people,” Krishna said.

If elected, Krishna will join the league of country’s new young brigade of politicians. By Jaipal Sharma

The UP Congress chief, Ms Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s arrest and the subsequent drama have diverted attention from the fact that a woman Dalit chief minister has conveniently forgotten the Supreme Court directive to keep the identity of rape victims under wraps, says RASHEEDA BHAGAT.

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The UP Congress chief, Ms Rita Bahuguna Joshi… Caught in a political quagmire. There was never a doubt about how high the stakes are for appropriating political space in Uttar Pradesh. But that race has just got hotter and uglier after the arrest of the UP Congress chief, Ms Rita Bahuguna Joshi, for her unseemly remarks against the UP Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati. The latter seems to be operating on a one-point agenda when it comes to political rivals — nothing short of packing them off to the kali kothdi. And so Ms Joshi was jailed for her controversial and unsavoury remarks against Ms Mayawati in the context of the paltry compensation for Dalit women who had been raped.
In a rally in Moradabad, the Congress UP chief had scoffed at the paltry compensation of Rs 20,000 handed out to raped Dalit women. So far so good, but then, obviously carried away, she stepped into a political minefield and made a highly objectionable statement about Ms Mayawati.
Ms Joshi played straight into Ms Mayawati’s hands by her obnoxious comments; charges under Section 153 A (delivering inflammatory speeches) and Section 109 (using abusive language) of the IPC, as well as the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, were slapped against her for making derogatory remarks against a Dalit woman, and she was remanded to judicial custody.
Worse followed, her house was attacked and torched and despite its close vicinity to the high security zone of the State Secretariat, any security or police apparatus was mysteriously absent when hooligans shouted slogans against her and burnt the house. Conveniently enough, shortly before the attack, the police rounded up her personal staff such as driver, cook, etc and took them away to the police thana. Apparently, they were told that the police was acting thus to safeguard their own security!
High handed As expected, all hell broke loose and cutting across party lines most politicians condemned the language used by Ms Joshi and Ms Mayawati’s high-handed act in imprisoning her. Ms Mayawati’s bete noir, Samajwadi party chief, Mr Mulayam Singh, and the BJP MP, Ms Maneka Gandhi, whose son Varun, was imprisoned and the National Security Act slapped against him for his inflammatory speech against Muslims during his election campaign in Pilibhit, sought her dismissal. Other politicians, including those from the Left parties, have condemned Ms Joshi’s arrest, particularly the attack on her house, allegedly at the behest of Bahujan Samaj Party supporters. One of BSP’s MLAs, Mr Babloo Tiwari has been named in an FIR registered with the police; the charge is that he had led the mob that vandalised Ms Joshi’s house in Lucknow.
The Congress, of course, described the entire episode as one more example of “jungle raj” in UP and Mr Akhilesh Yadav, Mr Mulayam’s son, said the continuance of Ms Mayawati at the helm in UP was untenable and her government should be dismissed. “Law and order has gone for a toss in the State. In Uttar Pradesh, it is not the police but BSP leaders who decide what sections are to be imposed on a criminal,” he said.
But the reaction that everybody was waiting for was that of the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, and Ms Mayawati was the first to point it out, wondering why Ms Sonia had remained a silent spectator. But soon enough Ms Gandhi did respond, expressed regret at the comments made by Ms Joshi but also condemned what had happened after that as extremely “high handed”.
Battle for UP But at the bottom of this acrimony and the violence displayed in vandalising Ms Joshi’s Lucknow residence, is the battle for UP, once again by bandying caste politics. After her spectacular victory in the last UP Assembly elections, Ms Mayawati’s hopes of heading a Third Party coalition government in Delhi after the Lok Sabha elections had gained ground. The squabbling between the SP and Congress over seat-sharing had only whetted her appetite. But her calculations that the BSP’s huge Assembly victory would naturally be transferred to a great showing in the Lok Sabha polls were dashed to the ground by the Congress General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi’s decision to go it alone in UP yielding surprisingly good results for the Congress.
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the Amethi MP put his nose to the ground and dexterously ploughed his way through the quagmire of UP’s caste politics. Surpassing even the Congress’ own expectations, it won a whopping 21 seats in UP, and what must have really hurt the BSP supremo, who was expecting to win about 45 seats in UP, was that the Congress won an extra seat, compared to its 20! The SP’s share came tumbling down from its 36 in 2004 to only 23 seats in 2009.
The Congress’s sterling performance devastated both the UP chieftains — Mr Mulayam and Ms Mayawati; the last time the Congress had won more than 10 seats in UP was in 1989 when it got 15 seats; in 2004, it was able to manage a miserable nine seats.
To the astute politician in Ms Mayawati, this was a clear signal that after yielding a chunk of its political influence in the Hindi heartland to the regional parties and the BJP, the Congress is heading for a spirited fight to regain the State which has consistently returned Nehru-Gandhi family members to the Lok Sabha.
Obviously, she has realised that her ‘sarva samaj’ mantra that worked magic in the 2007 Assembly elections did not help in the Lok Sabha polls, and other parties such as the Congress had whittled away its Dalit vote-bank. Just as the severe action against Varun Gandhi was meant to show Muslims that she could be their saviour if only given a chance, Ms Joshi’s arrest and threatening noises on how she will be “punished” even if she gets bail, etc, is a clear signal from Ms Mayawati to the Dalits that she is their sole saviour.
Ms Joshi’s arrest and the drama that ensued have unfortunately diverted attention from the fact that a woman chief minister, and a Dalit to boot, seems to have conveniently forgotten the directive that has come from none less than the Supreme Court that it is obligatory on the part of the government, NGOs, as well as the media, to keep the identity of rape victims under wraps.
The central debate should have been on the lining up of rape victims to give government compensation, which could have been quietly reached to their homes. But, then, unpublicised largesse gives little opportunity to any political party to let not only the victims, but their entire community, know who their real saviour is. Thus are vote bank politics born, nurtured and fiercely guarded.
Rahul Gandhi has sent the right message when he recently asked Youth Congress workers to go to villages and work for the poor, irrespective of their caste and community. But if our politicians had half a chance they would fight tooth and nail to get the ‘poor’ notified as a different caste altogether!

Dinesh Singh - Rawat

he was on a daylong visit to the city to start his campaign ‘Aam Aadmi Ka Sipahi’ (AAKS – ‘common man’s soldier’) in Assam. The campaign aims to popularise the flagship programmes of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

“Rahul Gandhi interacted with the students for about 90 minutes and drove home two pertinent points — that people of the northeast should not feel alienated and that people from this region should go outside and get maximum exposure,” V.M. Thomas of the institute told IANS.
Speaking at a party meeting to launch the campaign, Gandhi highlighted the role of panchayats in listening to people and finding out problems they face.
“The sipahis should make people at the grassroots level aware of various flagship programmes of the UPA government. The idea is to bring about transparency in the functioning of the government,” Gandhi said.
There will be a group of three AAKS in each panchayat and they would work with the common people to ensure that the masses are able to derive the benefits of the policies launched by the Congress-led UPA Government.
“In particular, the Youth Congress through AAKS will focus on the NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), and ensure that the programme benefits, which have now been extended to the entire country, can reach the common man,” Gandhi said.

The party would look into whether he could be charged under the Anti-Defection law. "We have to consult our party leaders in New Delhi before expelling him," Mr. Chakraborty said.

New Delhi, June 2 : Projecting India in an 'incredible manner' during the Commonwealth Games in 2010 will be her top priority, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said soon after taking charge Monday.

'We want to project India in Commonwealth Games in an incredible manner and that is our major priority,' Soni told IANS.

The minister said she would ensure wide coverage of the sporting event.

Soni, who was earlier minister of tourism and culture, said the government would partner with the media and representatives of all stakeholders to handle issues in as sensitive a manner as possible.

'We will try to bring a harmonious working relationship to the benefit and advantage of all,' she added.

Soni said she will focus on achieving consensus on content code for news broadcasters and looking into the demands of print as well as electronic media.

The minister said she will be sitting with her colleagues and senior officials to chalk out the programme for 100 days.

Hailing Meira Kumar's selection for the post of Lok Sabha speaker, Soni said: 'We are thankful to the Congress party, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA (United Progressive Alliance) chief Sonia Gandhi and all other allies as for the first time a constitutional post is going to a Dalit woman.'

'She (Meira Kumar) is an active politician and is the daughter of Jagjivan Ram (a social reformer and Dalit leader). This is the first time that a woman would be holding the post of speaker. We are sure she would play a very active and important role in raising the voice of the weaker section,' she added.

She said that although the women's reservation bill has not been cleared, the Congress has always pitched for women.

'Our president is a woman and the UPA chairperson is a woman. Now, there are many women in the parliament,' she said.

Soni was flanked by her junior ministers Choudhury Mohan Jatua of the Trinamool Congress and S. Jagathrakshakan of the DMK. While Jatua had taken charge Saturday, Jagathrakshakan took charge as minister of state for information and broadcasting Monday.

NEW DELHI - Union Water Resource Minister and Congress leader Meira Kumar called on Congress party President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday afternoon.

The meet, which was held at 10, Janpath, Sonia Gandhi’s residence, gave strength to speculations about her getting a nomination of Congress Party for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.

Reports in Sunday newspapers widely suggested the name of Congress leader Meira Kumar, who comes from Dalit community and better known as the daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram, waiting official ‘go ahead’ of the high command in the party.

Meira Kumar’s name is believed to have been cleared by the Congress core group on Saturday night.

Coming out of Sonia’s residence, the 64-year-old Kumar, refused to divulge any development to mediapersons. Aides close to Meira later informed that she would speak to journalists only after her name is officially announced as a candidate for the Speaker’s post.

Meanwhile, in the evening, Lok Sabha Secretary General P. D. T. Achary called on Kumar.

Lucknow: Three days after the poll results were declared, showing a poor performance by her Bahujan Samaj Party, a livid Mayawati in her address to party leaders spent a good 30 minutes hitting out at a retired IAS officer, even using invectives. The man she was talking about was P L Punia, a former trusted lieutenant and a Dalit, who is now being seen as the latest weapon in the hands of the Congress against the Chief Minister.

Punia, who was elected from Barabanki constituency on a Congress ticket, was her principal secretary in her three previous regimes in 1995, 1997 and 2002.

Mayawati even questioned Punia’s caste credentials saying, “I wonder if you all are aware that Punia does not belong to the Chamar (cobbler) community; he is a Dhanuk from Haryana.”

“Punia is a traitor like Kajrorkar, personal assistant of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, but I won’t be bullied by him. I have inherited the legacy of Dr Ambedkar and Manyawar Kanshi Ram, and not traitors like Kajrorkar,” she added at the party meeting in Lucknow.

“The Congress has repeated history by fielding my personal secretary in the Lok Sabha polls. Sonia Gandhi, her son and daughter campaigned in Barabanki and the party spent over Rs 100 crore to ensure the victory of Punia, with the sole objective of humiliating me,” she said.

This was not the first time she targeted Punia. A day after the first phase of the polls on April 16, she had even accused Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi of frequently visiting UP to help his “friends in the bureaucracy who were contesting for the Congress”.

The 64-year-old Punia, a 1970-batch IAS officer of UP cadre and a native of Haryana, shot into prominence in 1993, when Mulayam Singh Yadav, took over as chief minister of the SP-BSP alliance government. Mayawati made him her principal secretary when she took over as CM in 1995. Since then, Punia served two more stints with Mayawati when she became the CM in 1997 and 2002.

But bitterness set in after the 175-crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam broke out in 2003. Punia turned approver against Mayawati, against whom the CBI was preparing a chargesheet. Though Mayawati got a reprieve after Governor T V Rajeswar refused to grant sanction for prosecution, her latest diatribe indicates her fear that Punia could become a handy tool in the hands of the Congress.

“Punia was a loyal bureaucrat who relentlessly protected the political interest of Mayawati, yet she ditched him in the Taj Heritage Corridor scam. This hurt Punia no end,” said a senior IAS officer. “Though there were IAS officers who wielded influence in state politics, none can match the clout of Punia, who has support cutting across caste and creed.”

The officer added: “Punia has worked closely with both Kanshi Ram and Mayawati, knows about the structure and methodology of the BSP. He could be a deadly weapon against Mayawati in the hands of the Congress.”

Punia, on his part, has an answer for Mayawati’s “traitor” allegation. “If I am repeating the history of Kajrorkar, then before equating me with the PA of Dr Ambedkar, she should first tell the people what she did with her mentor Kanshi Ram. Family members of Kanshi Ram were never allowed to meet him when he was seriously ill and they were not allowed to even attend his last rites.”

Describing the poll results as “a mandate against Mayawati”, he said: “Taking moral responsibility for the BSP’s defeat, she should resign as CM. She went to the polls hoping to become the next PM but today she is fighting to save her political ground in her home state.”

Punia, who retired in 2005, had contested the 2007 Assembly election from Fatehpur in Barabanki district, but lost to BSP’s Meeta Gautam. As in the 2007 polls, Mayawati had campaigned against Punia this time too. But Punia won by a margin of 1.67 lakh votes. The BSP candidate was a distant third.

Punia said he would do everything to revive the Congress. “We will do our job in the interest of the party, if that hurts the political interests of somebody we can’t help it,” said Punia. “As far as Mayawati is

New Delhi: Congress today downplayed demands for a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) for the UPA saying a small group will be constituted to consider the common points of the manifestos of the parties in the alliance.
"A small group will be formed that will decide what are the issues in the manifestos of other parties which could be included," AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters after the first meeting of the pre-poll alliance partners of the UPA here.

Asked about the issue of CMP raised by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee in the UPA meeting, Dwivedi said that he will not comment on what she said in individual capacity in the meeting.

"There was a consensus...This is not the first time, the UPA government is being formed," Dwivedi said, indicating that instead of CMP, there would merely be a small group to look into the issues which the allies have raised and promised in their manifestos.

Party sources said that the issue of including RJD, SP and LJP, who were part of the last UPA regime but were not pre-poll partners of the Congress, did not come up in the UPA meeting at the residence of party President Sonia Gandhi.

Sources maintained that this effectively meant that the doors of the Cabinet are closed for RJD and SP.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday met President Pratibha Patil and submitted the resignations of the members of his council of ministers.

Manmohan Singh, who also formally stepped down as prime minister, was asked to continue till the formation of the next government.Officials at Rashtrapati Bhavan said President Patil, who hosts a dinner for the outgoing cabinet later in the evening, will invite Manmohan Singh to form the next government on Tuesday.

The tally of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rose to 263 Monday with the independent MP from Ladakh joining the National Conference, which is part of the UPA. Now the UPA is nine short of the magic halfway mark of 272 seats needed for majority in the 545-member house, of which 543 are elected.

"It is protocol that the prime minister of the outgoing government resigns after election results," a prime ministerial aide told IANS.Earlier, at the final cabinet meet at the prime minister's 7, Race Course Road residence, where the ministers tendered their resignations, a resolution of appreciation for Manmohan Singh was passed.

The meeting was attended by, among others, Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and steel minister, Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Ram Vilas Paswan, who lost his Lok Sabha seat.There is considerable speculation over Lalu Prasad's inclusion in the new cabinet.

"We are giving unconditional support to the government and we have said this in the cabinet meeting as well," said Lalu Prasad, whose relations with the Congress took a beating after seat sharing in Bihar broke down.

The Congress is planning to approach the president with letters of support from at least 20-30 more MPs that will obviate the need for a confidence vote in parliament, a party leader said.

A three-member Election Commission team headed by Navin Chawla will also formally submit the list of newly-elected Lok Sabha members to Patil Monday evening.

On Tuesday, the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) will meet to formally choose Manmohan Singh as its parliamentary party leader and Sonia Gandhi as it CPP chairperson.According to an official in the Prime Minister's Office, the swearing in of the new cabinet is likely on May 20 or May 22 - the day Manmohan Singh took oath five years ago. May 21 is out because it is the death anniversary of the late Rajiv Gandhi.

New Delhi, May 16 : The Gujarat unit of the Congress, after securing ten out of the 26 Lok Sabha seats, on Saturday claimed that state chief minister Narendra Modi's [Images] 'black' magic failed to work in favour of the National Democratic Alliance.

"The NDA will now have to suffer the consequence of projecting Modi as their star campaigner. Out of the 200 parliamentary constituencies that he addressed outside Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party [Images] has won in only 38," leader of the opposition in the state assembly Shaktisinh Gohil told media persons in Ahmedabad [Images].

"Modi's black magic has failed to work for the BJP and after looking at Gujarat results, I believe it is the beginning of the end of his black magic in the state," he said.

Terming the performance of the Congress in Gujarat as a victory of love over ego (Modi's) Gohil said that the CM was hiding like a fox in his hole. "Modi, who used to walk like a lion during victory, has now hidden himself in a hole like a fox," he said.

Gohil said that it was the charisma of Rahul Gandhi [Images], sacrifice of Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images], and the faith of people in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] that has worked in favour of the party.

Gujarat Congress president Siddharth Patel said that the party was satisfied with its performance in the Lok Sabha elections after it secured 10 out of the 26 seats in the state.

"We are by and large satisfied with the results of the 15th Lok Sabha elections. We could have probably got 2-3 seats more but we couldn't," Patel said.

"The party was confident of winning the Panchamahal and Sabarkantha seats but unfortunately we lost the two seats," he added. Union minister and senior Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela was contesting from Panchmahal, where he lost to BJP's Parbathsinh Chauhan by over two thousand votes, while Congresses' Mahusudan Mistry contesting from Sabarkantha lost to Mahendrasinh Chauhan by over 17,000 votes.

Patel said the delimitation had also affected the results of the election. "Sabarknatha and Kheda are the two seats which lost a large portion of Congress areas due to the delimitation rules," he said.

Patelpointed out that all those Congressmen who joined BJP after being denied tickets by the party, have lost.

"Three defectors from the Congress who joined BJP -- Bhavhsinh Rathore (Patan), Somji Damor (Dahod) and Lalji Mer (Surendranagar) have lost," he said.

"The people have given their verdict against the tainted candidates put up by the BJP from Patan and Ananad constituencies," Patel added.

NEW DELHI, India -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared set for a second term as his Congress party and its allies scored a decisive lead over their opponents on Saturday in a vote count after the country's monthlong general elections.

Congress supporters in Banglaore Saturday celebrate the party's lead in election results.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance surged ahead in more than 255 of the 543 federal parliamentary boroughs, outpacing the main opposition composed of a grouping led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).

BJP leader Arun Jaitley conceded defeat, stating that the ruling party will win the election.

"We respect this mandate and accept it," Jaitley said.

India's communists, who last year parted ways with the federal government for its civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States, also suffered a massive blow in their stronghold state of West Bengal as they trailed their rivals in more than half of its boroughs.

Singh drove down to the home of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born head of the Congress party, after trends gave out a clear mandate in favor of the ruling coalition.

Standing beside Gandhi, who once again endorsed the choice of Singh for her party's top job, he thanked voters for their support.

He vowed to maintain a stable government that he said would remain committed to secular values. Singh also remarked that he would like Rahul Gandhi, son of his party chief, to become a member of his new Cabinet.

Deepak Sandhu, the prime minister's spokeswoman, told CNN that Singh is expected to hold a meeting of his current Cabinet on Monday.

The prime minister, whose coalition may need some extra backing to be able to reclaim power with a majority of 272 lawmakers on its side, threw up an invitation to all secular parties to come and support his government.

The fifth and final phase of India's marathon general election to choose a federal government ended Wednesday.

Most of the results of the will be out by the end of the day, election officials said.

India is home to about 714 million voters. About 100 million voters registered for Wednesday's polling.