Honnali, Apr 28 : Squarely blaming former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and his son for the slipper hurling incident at a public meeting at Hassan district today, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa alleged that the incident was a deliberate attempt by his political foes to insult him.

Talking to newspersons after attending a public meeting at Nyamati village in Honnali taluk, the Chief Minister alleged that the incident was orchestrated by the father-son duo (Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy) only to heap insult on him.

Stating that it was not the way to treat a Chief Minister, Mr Yeddyurappa declared that one could not be expected to be cowed down by such incidents as he was in public life by waging struggles for the common good.

'The Opposition parties, frustrated with BJP's popularity, have resorted to such incidents,'' he claimed.

Accused Chandrashekhar, a former District President of the Khadi Board, flung his slipper at the Chief Minister after shouting 'Deve Gowda ki Jai'.

The slipper, which was thrown towards the dais, however, fell short of the target by about 30 ft and did not hurt anyone.

Bangalore, April 16 : Karnataka has a population of over 50 million, of which 40 million are eligible to vote.

But political parties, mainly the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have struggled to get fresh candidates for the state’s 28 Lok Sabha seats.

Voting will take place in 17 constituencies on April 23 and in the remaining 11 on April 30.

The lack of “winning” new faces in spite of hundreds of ticket seekers has made the parties bank on veterans or state legislators.

Five former chief ministers and eight legislators are in the Lok Sabha battle. Three of them belong to the Congress - N. Dharam Singh from Bidar, M. Veerappa Moily from Chikkaballapur and S. Bangarappa from Shimoga.

The other two former chief ministers are the father-son combine of former prime minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) president H.D. Deve Gowda (Hassan) and state JD-S head H.D. Kumaraswamy (Bangalore Rural).

Eight legislators - seven assembly members and one legislative council member - are seeking to enter the Lok Sabha.

They are Kumaraswamy, state youth Congress president Krishna Byregowda from Bangalore South, former Congress state president Mallikarjun Kharge from Gulbarga, fellow Congressmen Prakash B. Hukkeri from Chikkodi and R. Dhruvanarayan from Chamarajanagar; Revunaik Belamagi of the BJP from Gulbarga and B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan of the JD-S from Bangalore Central.

The lone legislative council member is Prakash K. Rathod of the Congress from Bijapur.

Two Congress legislators have quit the party and the assembly to contest on the BJP ticket. They are Gurupadappa Nagamarpalli from Bidar and C.P. Yogeshwar, a Kannada film actor and producer, from Bangalore Rural.

All the former chief ministers in the field have tasted defeats, either in the assembly or Lok Sabha polls.

Moily and Deve Gowda have lost a Lok Sabha poll while Bangarappa, Dharam Singh and Kumaraswamy have been defeated in assembly elections.

Dharam Singh, elected to the assembly eight terms in a row, was defeated in May 2008. He is seeking to enter the Lok Sabha for the first time.

The other veteran Congress legislator, Mallikarjun Kharge, has won the assembly elections for the ninth time. Like Dharam Singh, he is trying his luck in a Lok Sabha poll for the first time.

The Congress also has the credit of fielding at least three more veterans who have tasted defeat in Lok Sabha polls - former railways minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief (Bangalore North), former junior finance minister in Indira Gandhi’s government B. Janardhana Poojary (Dakshina Kannada) and former party general secretary Margaret Alva from Uttara Kannada.

The BJP takes the credit for fielding the highest number of ‘defectors’, followed by the Congress.

The BJP has nominated former Congressmen D.B. Chandre Gowda from Bangalore North, L.R. Shivarame Gowda from Mandya, Gurpadappa Nagmarpalli from Bidar, C.P. Yogeshwar, a Kannada film actor-producer and a realtor, from Bangalore Rural.

Chandre Gowda takes on Sharief; Shivarame Gowda faces M.H. Ambareesh of the Congress, a Kannada film actor and central junior minister, Nagmarapalli is pitted against Dharam Singh and Yogeshwar battles Kumaraswamy and sitting member Tejaswini Gowda of the Congress.

The Congress managed to get only two defectors - H.T. Sangliana and Manjunath Kunnur - both from the BJP.


Sangliana, a former Bangalore city police commissioner, had won the Bangalore North Lok Sabha seat in 2004, defeating Sharief. He is now contesting from Bangalore Central, a new constituency following the recent re-drawing of constituencies.

Kunnur is contesting from Dharwad.

In the case of Bangarappa, it is homecoming. From the Congress he went to the BJP and later to the Samajwadi Party. He is in the fray from his home-district Shimoga against Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s son and BJP candidate B.Y. Raghavendra.

With JD-S prospects not considered bright, it could not net any big fish from either the Congress or the BJP.

It has fielded candidates only in 23 constituencies. Its Third Front allies, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Communist Party of India (CPI), will contest one seat each.

Bangalore, April 16 : The coming Lok Sabha election in Karnataka will witness the highest number of millionaires-45 in all--testing electoral waters. The state is sending the highest number of millionaries in the country among the 427 candidates in fray.

According to a survey conducted by the National Election Watch, a city-based NGO, the number of millionaires contesting shot up by four times from a mere nine in 2004 General Elections.
The survey said among the national and major political parties, the average asset per candidate for the JD(S) was found to be highest at Rs 19.1 crore, followed by Rs 7.27 crore for Congress, Rs 5.67 crore for the BJP and Rs 0.98 crore for "the new and fledgling" national party BSP.
The NEW survey, also suggested the total number of candidates in the 23 April, 2009 elections in Karnataka with criminal records stood at more than ten per cent -- 27 against 222 at the all India level for Phase-1 polls scheduled for 16 April.
Most of the major political parties in Karnataka, the survey pointed out, had fielded candidates with criminal records with the top four being the JD-S at five out of 11, BJP six out of 14, INC four out of 15 and BSP three out of 12.
Most Sates have candidates with criminal background contesting the elections--Bihar is at the top with 51 candidates while Karnataka accounts for 14.9 per cent.
Sindhia to support JD-S, Cong candidates
BANGALORE: The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) have received a much needed boost in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections with the former Minister P.G.R. Sindhia deciding to support the candidates of the two parties to counter the growth of the BJP in Karnataka.
Mr. Sindhia, former Finance minister, was expelled from the JD-S by the former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, now again decided to support the candidates of same party.
Therefore, one can conclude that Mr Sindhia is back to active politics and his decision to canvass for Congress and JD(S) candidates such as former Chief Ministers S. Bangarappa, H.D. Deve Gowda, H.D. Kumaraswamy, N. Dharam Singh and M. Mallikarjun Kharge has not surprised to any one. Because, he has been desperately looking to come out of the cage and activate his political career.  The return of Mr. Sindhia has come as a good for the Congress and the JD(S).
However, both the Congress and JD-S are confused about Mr. Sindhias political plans. His plan to checkmating the BJP by supporting Opposition parties in the state has not sent cleared the thick air surrounded him after he was expelled from the BSP by UP CM Mayawati about a year ago.
The Maratha leader categorically said that he was in contact with the former Prime Minister and president of the JD(S), H.D. Deve Gowda, and the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, R.V. Deshpande.
Mr. Sindhia has kept away from politics for almost a year after the Bahujan Samaj Party, which he was heading, dumped him. Mr. Sindhia walked out of the JD(S) in early 2006 after Mr. Kumaraswamy aligned with the BJP to form a coalition government. In January 2007 he joined the BSP in the presence of party leader Mayawati only to be removed from his post during the May 2008 Assembly elections.
Mr. Sindhia was one of the key campaigners for the Janata Parivar in all the elections held between 1977 and 2007. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly for six terms in a row and a Minister for 15 years in the Ramakrishna Hedge, S.R. Bommai, H.D. Deve Gowda, J.H. Patel and the Dharam Singh Governments in Karnataka.
He was a strong critic of Sangh Parivar outfits and BJP. Had the Congress and the JD(S) entered into a pre-poll understanding at the State level, they could have, under the present circumstances, definitely won nearly 20, he claimed.
Forum to support HT Sangliana


BANGALORE: Retired IPS officer H T Sangliana, who is contesting in Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, has received much needed support from an apolitical forum comprising of individuals led by retired Karnataka High Court Judge M F Saldanha.

Mr Saldanha told reporters on Wednesday that the Mr. Sangliana distinguishes himself as a man of principle and a human being, who has displayed courage at all times when he was in service and as a MP. Mr. Sangliana won the 2004 election on a BJP ticket.

Prof Rajeev Gowda of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, and retired Director General of Police F T R Colaso to decided to campaign in favor of Mr. Sangliana. The constituency goes to polls on April 23.

Under the banner of Dr H T Sangliana Campaign Committee, three leaders called upon the electorate to extend support for retired IPS officer. Dr Sangliana stands tall and clean and above all the pride of being an Indian, Mr Saldanha said.

Mr Colaso said the fact that Mr Sangliana was facing shortage of financial resources and the people should vote for him and help to fight the money-power and corruption that is rampant in all levels of administration in the State.

Prof Rajeev Gowda said Sangliana was symbolic of Bangalores cosmopolitan and composite culture.
Mr Saldanha said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh should be given another term of five years in office to accelerate the growth of the economy. However, Mr Saldanha said they would restrict their preferences to Mr Saldanha in Bangalore and would not like air their views on other candidates.

Mr Saldanha said he was supporting Capt Gopinath, who is contesting as an independent candidate in Bangalore South, while Prof Rajeev Gowda said he would be supporting Congress candidate Krishna Byregowda in the constituency.

Mr. Sangliana joined the Congress after he supported the UPA government during voting on N-deal in the Parliament last year.

Cong shying away from real issues: BJP
BANGALORE: The BJP National President Rajanath Singh on Wednesday charged that the Congress-led UPA was running a hate campaign against the BJP and its leadership to divert public attention from real issues confronting people such as price-rise, terrorism, recession, unemployment and development.
Addressing a press conference in Bangalore, Mr. Singh who arrived in here to campaign for the party, referred to the Congress criticism at BJP leader L. K. Advani and said in a healthy democracy, launching personal attack on Opposition leaders would send wrong signals.
He said that the Congress party should come to the defence of the prime minister if the Opposition criticises his actions instead of the prime minister himself jumping to the defence. Mr Singh accused the Congress of shying away from a serious debate on contemporary issues like terrorism and price-rise as it had nothing to flaunt on these fronts.
He also launched a counter attack at the Congress for raising the Kandahar hostage episode at the time of elections. The decision to release three terrorists in the Kandahar episode was taken after an all-party meeting in which the Congress was also present. The Congress was party to such a decision which was taken to protect the lives of hostages, he said.
Stating that the Congress should note that these hostages were not family members of BJP leaders, the BJP leader said the Congress, which has criticized the BJP on the Kandahar issue, has forgotten its own misdeed in Charar-e-Sharief where the then Congress government ensured safe passage to five dreaded terrorists though there were no hostages.
Mr. Singh refused to react to Mr. Advanis statement that he was not aware of the then minister Jaswant Singh going with the terrorists in the same plane to Kandahar.
JD (S) hits out at Cong, BJP
JD (S) today said both the Congress and BJP stand accused of giving step motherly treatment in promoting the interests of the State.
Party Spokesman Y S V Datta told reporters here both the national parties had no moral right and courage to say they had done any good for the State during their rule at the Centre.
Reacting to a 14-point charge sheet against Congress by the BJP, he said it was only Mr H D Deve Gowda, during his tenure as Prime Minister, for the first time sanctioned Rs 500 crore for irrigation projects in the State.
''It was only JD (S) which could claim it was farmer-friendly and other parties had no moral and courage to make such claims,'' he said. Stating the national parties had completely failed in taking up initiatives to solve the issues of the State in the last 60 years, he said his party was ready for a public debate on issues concerning sectors like railways, irrigation and power.

45 of them are in the fray; Surendra Babu of JD(S) is the richest of them all

---

K.H. Muniyappa’s assets shot from from Rs. 62 lakh to Rs. 5.19 crore
Suresh Angadi is richer at Rs. 16.43 crore as against
Rs. 4.71 cr. in 2004

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Bangalore: Money is more than ever before the fuel that powers the electoral process in Karnataka. The number of crorepatis in race here is higher than the national average, and the assets of MPs who are contesting again has seen an upswing too.

A study by the National Election Watch (NEW) on the financial and criminal background of candidates from Karnataka shows that there are 45 crorepatis in the race in Karnataka. That makes 24.9 per cent of the total contestants, which is markedly higher than the national average of 14 per cent. This may just be the tip of an iceberg considering that it takes into account only the declared assets presented to the Election Commission.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress share the top slot of the crorepati list with 12 candidates each, followed by the Janata Dal (Secular) at eight. As many as six independents are in the list of crorepatis. The top five corepatis in the race are: Suredra Babu R (JD-S) with Rs. 108 crore followed by Captain G.R. Gopinath (Independent), C. Aswathanarayana (BJP), H.D. Kumaraswamy (JD-S) and Angadi Suresh Channabasappa (BJP). Interestingly, Mr. Babu heads the list of candidates with the highest assets as well as liabilities.

Rise in assets The study has analysed the assets of 13 MLAs who got elected in 2008 and are contesting in the Lok Sabha elections. Within one year, their declared assets have shown a rise of 39 per cent.

The study says the assets of MPs who are seeking re-election has seen marked rise from 2004 to 2009: Ananthkumar Hegde (Uttara Kannada): Rs. 12 lakh to Rs 64 lakh; Ananth Kumar (Bangalore South) Rs. 70 lakh to Rs. 122 lakh, K.H. Muniyappa (Kolar) Rs. 62 lakh to Rs. 519 lakh, Tejasvini Gowda (Bangalore Rural) Rs. 17 lakh to Rs. 73 lakh, H.T. Sangliana (Bangalore Central) Rs. 77 lakh to Rs. 255 lakh, Jigajinagi Ramesh Chandappa (Bijapur) Rs. 55 lakh to Rs. 118 lakh and Angadi Suresh Channabasappa (Belgaum) Rs. 471 lakh to Rs. 1,643 lakh.

NEW has expressed concern over what it calls “continuing criminalisation of politics”.

Udupi April 13: Convener of the State unit of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti Lakshminarayan Nagawar has said a movement should be launched to provide women with equal rights, especially those from weaker sections. He was speaking after inaugurating the Dalit Mahila Swabhimani Samavesha organised by Karnataka Dalit Mahila Okkoota here on Sunday.


Mr. Nagawar alleged that the Pejawar seer and other heads of Hindu maths believed in inequality especially towards women. This was because they believed in the Manu Smriti. The Dalit movement should not be confined to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It was an inclusive movement and it highlighted issues concerning all weaker sections, he said.


Mr. Nagawar said that women were equal to men in intelligence and competence. They only required opportunities to display their talent. But Sangh Parivar organisations such as the Bajrang Dal had made life difficult for women in the coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, he alleged.


The Sangh Parivar made tall claims of giving respect to women. But the way they treated Uma Bharati was too well known to be recalled, Mr. Nagawar said.


It was essential for all progressive and secular groups and political parties to come together to defeat communal forces in the Lok Sabha elections, he added.


Manjula of Samanata Mahila Vedike, Shimoga, said that women were attacked in a pub in Mangalore recently. Women were facing harassment, and crimes against them were increasing.


A woman was being kidnapped every 43 minutes. A dowry death was taking place every 60 minutes. There was some crime taking place against women every seven minutes in the country, she said.


Ms. Manjula said that in the coastal districts girls were not being allowed to talk to boys from other communities. The plight of the Dalit women might well be imagined there. Illiteracy had been the bane of Dalits. Only 10 per cent of Dalit women and 31 per cent of Dalit men were literate. Parliament must give its nod for 33 per cent reservation for women, Ms. Manjula said.


Convener of DSS district unit Sundari Puttur, writer Anasuya Kamble, progressive thinkers Athrady Amritha and Bhagya Hagalganchi were present.


V. Saraswati welcomed the gathering. Jayan Malpe delivered the introductory remarks. Dinakar Bengre compered the programme. Saroja K. proposed a vote of thanks.

BANGALORE, Apr 9 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary H.N. Ananth Kumar, Congress leader Margaret Alva and former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) are among the 273 candidates left in the fray in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka after the expiry of the nomination withdrawal date Wednesday.

Voting will take place on April 23. In the remaining 11 seats polling is on April 30.

Bangalore Central, where the Congress has fielded former Bangalore ’super cop’ H.T. Sangliana, has the highest number of candidates in the field at 37. It is followed by Bangalore North with 28 and Bidar in north Karnataka with 27.

The battle for the 17 seats is between BJP, ruling Karnataka for the first time, the Congress and JD-S, though Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded candidates in some constituencies.

Ananth Kumar is seeking re-election for the fifth time in a row from Bangalore South. His main opponent is state Youth Congress president Krishna Byre Gowda, who is contesting for the Lok Sabha for the first time. Gowda is now member of the state assembly.

Margaret Alva, who had been sacked as Congress general secretary for alleging party seats were sold during the May 2008 assembly polls, faces 11 opponents, including BJP’s sitting Lok Sabha member Ananth Kumar Hegde.

Hegde is under the election authorities’ scanner for alleged anti-minority statements, though he has denied the charges.

C.K. Jaffer Sharief, former railways minister, has 28 opponents in Bangalore North. His main battle is with D.B. Chandre Gowda of BJP. Gowda shifted to the BJP from the Congress only last week.

Kumaraswamy, contesting from Bangalore Rural, faces sitting member Tejaswini Gowda of the Congress and BJP’s C.P. Yogeshwar, a Kannada film actor-producer. Yogeshwar was a Congress legislator till last week.

In Bidar the fight is between Dharam Singh and his former colleague in Congress Gurpadappa Nagmarpalli, who crossed over to BJP in March.

In neighbouring Gulbarga, former state Congress president and Congress Working Committee member Mallikarjun Kharge is pitted against Revu Naik Belamagi of BJP and nine others.

The nomination process is on in the 11 Lok Sabha constituencies which figure in the second phase of polls.

Bangalore, Apr 3 : The process of filing of nomination papers for the April 30 second phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka began today with the Election Commission issuing the notification.

Eleven of the total 28 constituencies will go for polls in the second phase, official sources said.

The last date for filing of nomination is April 9 and withdrawal is April 13. The scrutiny of papers is on April 11.

An estimated 1.52 crore electorate is involved in the second phase in the constituencies of Bagalkot, Haveri, Dharwad, Davanagere, Shimoga, Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Mandya, Mysore and Chamarajanagar (SC).

In the first phase, polling will be held on April 23 on 17 constituencies.

Karnataka’s ruling BJP has a set a record of sorts by topping the list of the violation of model code of conduct with 24 cases so far.

According to Chief Electoral Officer M N Vidyashankar, a total of 58 cases have been registered against political parties with regard to the violation of model code of conduct. The party-wise violations are: BJP 24, Congress 9,JD(S) 9,BSP  2 and others 14.

Vidyashankar said Bellary district recorded highest number of violations at 12 followed by Shimoga 4, Dharwad  3 and Bangalore Rural 2. The Election Commission has already transferred five government officials from the Bellary district to ensure free and fair poll.

As many as 501 cases have been registered with regard to seizure of liquor, cash, goods and defacement of public properties in several districts. Total value of goods, liquor and cash seized was Rs 1.73 crore, he said.
The police and excise officials seized liquor worth Rs 75 lakh and registered 486 cases. Goods worth Rs 57 lakh and Rs 5\41 lakh cash had been seized so far. 50 cases have been registered with regard to defacement of public properties in the Sate and a highest number of cases again have been registered in Bellary 29 followed by Shimoga 12 and Dakshina Kannada  6.

Twelve cases have been registered with regard to violence and highest being in Shimoga (7). Four cases have been registered with regard to bribery in Bellary (2), Hassan and Bangalore South (one each).  A bribery case has been registered against former corporator Basavaraj who was involved in the distribution of SIM cards to woo voters in Bangalore South constituency. The CEO said the office had received 370 complaints and investigation was on in all cases.

Vidyashankar said police seized liquor worth Rs 13 lakh and vehicles worth Rs 17 lakh in Shimoga district on Sunday. Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra is contesting from Shimoga.

The Commission stayed the acquisition of lands for the Karnataka Housing Board Siddlaghatta taluk of Chikballapur district. The Government had issued a notification for acquiring 959 acres in the taluk, the CEO said.

Former Chief Minister and JD(S) candidate for Bangalore Rural constituency H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday alleged that Minister for Housing S N Krishnaiah Setty was involved in a major land scam in the garb of acquiring land for the KHB. The JD (S) has submitted a petition in this regard to the commission urging it to stop land acquisition.

Asked about acquisition of lands for Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, the CEO said the JD(S) submitted a petition on the issue and the commission was seeking more information about it.

By Ram Puniyani

Karnataka’s BJP Government has a lot of ‘innovation’ up it sleeves. Its firm belief in the supernatural powers residing in temples and operating through the clergy, Pujaris, has made it to undertake moves which defy all the logic of rational thinking and understanding about the phenomenon of nature. Undoubtedly all of us have a full right to our deities and rituals in personal life but to make it a matter of state policy is totally against the spirit of modern times and the values of our Constitution. Faith based actions by the state Government are coming to be witnessed in Karnataka, time and over again.

As soon as BJP came to power in Karnataka, its Muzrai department ordered all the temples to conduct daily pujas in the name of Chief Minister Yeddyyurappa. Fortunately the order was withdrawn soon enough. To carry the things further, in its latest budget (February 2009) Government has allocated 130 crores of rupees for temple and mutts. The idea is to propitiate the divine forces to show mercy on Karnataka and to ward off sins committed by the previous Government. The learned CM further displays his understanding by saying that there are no rains and food production has fallen due to sins committed by various people in the past, the money is allocated so that Gods will be pleased by this money, operated through the pujaris, the clergy, and so Gods will shower mercy on the state.

On the similar lines, during this Shivratri 50,000 liters of Gangajal (water from River Ganga) was brought in two tankers and distributed to 1500 temples across the state. The logic was that Ganga jal is pavitra (sacred) and washes the sins. Unfortunately the minister for Muzrai did not reveal as to how one quantifies the sins and how much water is required to wash how many sins! If by chance that be true, one may require numerous Gangas to wash the sins of Yeddyyurappa and company, the way they have gone on to supervise the attacks on churches and attack on girls in the state.

For BJP the issues around religious identity are the bridge to come to power. At center it rode to the seat of power through the chariot of Ram temple. In Karnataka it is Baba Budan Giri Dargah which has acted as its spring board to grab the seat of power. The move to get holy water for washing the sins is a new dimension and ‘discovery’ for the government. Now probably all the courts can stock Gangajal and while delivering the verdict on crimes, a pouch of holy water can also be given to ensure the sins being washed away.

One is sure, that the Government will soon be requisitioning Cow dung which is also used for purifying the polluted objects, the way Mahad’s Chavdar Talab (Tank) was purified with cow dung after Dr. Ambedkar and his followers drank water from the same. Just to recall, this was part of the agitation which Ambedkar led for dalit’s rights’ to have access to public drinking water. One knows that the dalits were denied access to the public drinking water and Ambedkar had to lead the agitation for the same.

That our society is in the grip of religiosity is well known. Also with the rise of religion based politics, the source of communalism, it has become worse. These gestures of Holy water and giving offerings to the temples are a part of the process to promote blind faith. One sees the holy water being brought by the Haj pilgrims, and those visiting the Ganga River. Should governments also be doing this? What is the borderline between people’s faith the governments policies?

In medieval society clergy was ruling the roost. The clergy in different forms claimed to have the monopoly over knowledge. The coming in of scientific reasoning and understanding was part of the secularization process whereby the clergy and faith based practices were relegated to the private lives of people, while state was to undertake profane issues in a rational way. Challenging the clergy had been a hazardous process in the past and those challenging the ‘representatives of Gods’ or Gods incarnates on the earth had to face various banishments. Charvak was denounced and his writings on rational thought process were wiped out by the clergy.

Copernicus, Galileo and scientists of their genre had no better fate. Servatus was tied to the pole in the public place and burnt alive for challenging the notion that the diseases are due to the displeasure of Gods! In medieval times, King, ruler, was the repository of power as he was regarded as the son of God and his power was given legitimacy by the clergy

Our Constitution makers were clear on this. While debating on these issues it was made clear that the issues related to faith will be in the domain of private life, while the issues related to public policy will be based on reason. It has also been mandated that state will promote rational thought and fight against blind faith and will promote scientific temper.

Karnataka Government is undertaking most blatant and crude display of religiosity, something totally against the sprit of our constitution. With pain and agony one feels that these worthies occupying the seats of power need to be subjected to training that rains are not due to pleasure or displeasure of Lord Ram or the God concerned with that department but due to factors related to environment. They should also be educated that food production depends on agricultural policies not on the whims of this or that God! That the concept of sin, the punishment for that being sent to hell is a concoction of the clergy, cutting across religions to keep their hold on social affairs.

Such steps by Government will promote blind faith amongst large section of population; it is a total opposite of the path we should be undertaking. At one level it is disgusting that government is spending public money for things which are part of faith and blind faith. At another level it is a matter of worry that the RSS politics will lead to a state of affairs where the issues pertaining to public welfare will be gradually substituted by these retrograde things.

What is needed is that Government focus on providing drinking water to villages and cities, what is needed is that health services are boosted, what is required is the effort to bring in policies for all round development of society. To propitiate the Gods-Goddesses should be left to the people’s own faith.

New Delhi, Mar 2 : Amount equals FDI received in 1995-96. A fourth of this likely to be splurged “unofficially” on voters. AP, Karnataka may top list of vote buying states

India will see a staggering Rs 10,000 crore, equivalent to the foreign direct investment it received in 1995-96, being spent on Lok Sabha polls this summer, with a fourth of the amount expected to be splurged on voters.
The official spending is likely to be about 20 per cent of the total expenses, including about Rs 1,300 crore by the Election Commission, and the rest by political parties in campaigning, says a survey by Centre for Media Studies (CMS).

An amount of Rs 2,000-2,500 crore would be spent in form of “unofficial money” or cash paid to the voters.
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka may top the list of states trying to purchase votes, with nearly half of voters there likely to be paid “cash for vote” about 24 hours before the polling day, said the election expenditure survey by CMS.
The Election Commission is likely to spend Rs 1,300 crore, while state governments and other government agencies, for purposes like photo identity cards, EVMs and polling booth, are expected to spend about Rs 700 crore.
Various political parties are expected to spend about Rs 1,650 crore from their party funds, in addition to the direct and indirect spending by the individual candidates.
Candidates of the national parties are estimated to incur a bill of Rs 4,350 crore, while those from the regional parties are expected to spend another Rs 1,000 crore.
In terms of areas where money would be spent, the canvassing would incur about Rs 3,500 crore, while printed materials would attract about Rs 2,000 crore.
Another Rs 1,500 crore could be spent on other media channels such as video, audio, cable, cinema, SMS and TV advertising. Besides, about Rs 1,500 crore could go for public meetings, wages and rallies etc.
The 2004 Lok Sabha election had cost the country Rs 4,500 crore against about Rs 3,200 crore in 1998 and Rs 2,100-2,200 crores in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections.
CMS said the two national parties — Congress and the BJP - alone would now be spending Rs 750-1,000 crore in all.
The country received around USD two billion as FDI in 1995-96 and at today’s exchange rate, it works out to Rs 10,000 crore.
However, the Rs 10,000 crore projected spending does not include expenditure on account of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa Assembly elections, also due this summer.
CMS said the Andhra Pradesh assembly poll campaign is expected to be in the order of Rs 1,000 crore, excluding Rs 550 crore that is likely to be spent on poll-eve publicity.

New Delhi, Feb 20 : In a major reshuffle in the key committee of the ruling Congress party Thursday night ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, senior leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was recalled as party general secretary.

Azad has been given charge of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Puducherry as the party reshuffled Congress Working Committee (CWC), its highest decision-making body.

V. Kishore Chandra Deo has been dropped from the post of general secretary and Karnataka leader Mallikarjun Kharge inducted into the CWC.

The work allocation of the nine general secretaries has also been changed.

Rahul Gandhi will continue to look after Youth Congress and National Students Union of India (NSUI) and Digvijay Singh remains in-charge of Uttar Pradesh. He will also look after the publicity.

Mohsina Kidwai has been given the charge of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh while Mukul Wasnik will be in-charge of the party affairs in Delhi, Rajasthan and would also look after Sewa Dal.

Prithviraj Chavan will continue to be AICC general secretary in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir. In addition, he has been made the party in-charge of Haryana.

Janardan Dwivedi will continue to look after organisation. He also gets new charges like organisational elections, training and programme implementation.

Congress treasurer Motilal Vora gets another responsibility as party in-charge of administration.

From R Guru Prasad in Bengaluru