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.

New Delhi, July 30: Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi backed Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the issue of the Indo-Pak joint statement.

Addressing the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) here on Thursday, Sonia said, "The party fully supports and welcomes the Prime Minister's reply on the Indo-Pak joint statement."

"Talks with Pakistan can resume once it actually takes action on terror and not allow its soil to be used for anti-India activities," she added.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi support came a day after Dr. Singh addressed Parliament on the Indo-Pak joint statement issued in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, earlier this month.

Supporting the Prime Minister's statement, Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said: "The party had made its stand very clear on PM's reply. I don't think that after the Party President has spoken, there is any need for anyone to add or subtract from it."

Several parliamentarians complimented Dr. Singh for his convincing speech in the Parliament on the Indo-Pak joint statement, at the dinner hosted by Sonia Gandhi for the party MPs on Wednesday.

Party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi also praised Dr. Singh by describing his speech as convincing.

The speech was very good and the Prime Minister is always convincing, Rahul remarked in his speech.

Farukkhabad, May 4 : Ridiculing BJP's "soft on terror" charges, Sonia Gandhi today attacked the saffron party, saying while Congress "effectively and firmly" countered terrorism, the erstwhile BJP-led government"treated terrorists like guests".

" During Congress rule terrorism was countered effectively and firmly, whereas during BJP regime terrorists were treated like guests and released in their own country," Sonia said here, while addressing an election rally in support of party nominee Salman Khursheed.

"The entire country knows that Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi laid down their lives for the nation's sake," she said, adding the party handled the terror issue "with an iron fist".

The Congress President asked BJP to stop "preaching on terrorism and instead introspect its own failures."

Gandhi also took a dig at NDA's India Shining slogan during the previous general elections.

" When farmers were facing a tough situation and future of youths was in dark, the BJP saw India as shining."BJP had made a lot of promises during earlier elections and the NDA regime, but failed to deliver," she charged, adding it was Congress which entered the election arena with the issue of turning India into a developed and strong nation.

Sriganganagar (Rajasthan), May 1: Lashing out at the Third and Fourth Fronts for having "sole aim to grab power", UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that every leader of these fronts were power hungry and least bothered for welfare of the country and people.

Addressing a poll rally in support of Congress candidate at Ramlila Maidan here, Gandhi said while these parties' and their leaders' sole aim was to grab power at any cost, the Congress wanted to serve the people even without chair and power.

Terming the previous NDA regime as "an era of darkness", she said, "NDA's rule was devoted to spreading hatred in the name of religion and caste and poisoning the society." "Country's borders were unsafe during the period," she added.

Hailing the UPA government's achievements in last five years, Gandhi said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken a number of initiatives for the welfare of poor, dalit, farmers and youth.

Appealing people to vote for Congress, she said the UPA alliance was committed to carry forward all the development schemes and pending projects, if voted to power.

Expressing her gratitude to public for bringing back the Congress government in Rajasthan, she said all promises made during the assembly polls will be fulfilled.

Congress' policies and approach were never meant for any single religion or a particular caste but these were holistic and for the welfare of everyone regardless of communities, she said.

She highlighted the UPA government's popular schemes like NREGA, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Bharat Nirman, farmers' loan waiver, and nuclear power deal.

Recalling the sacrifices of Sriganganagar's martyrs in India's freedom movement, she said they had laid down their lives in protection and security of the border.

She also praised local farmers for their contribution to increase country's agriculture production.

The Congress President was accompanied by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, PCC President C P Joshi and AICC functionaries.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi will hit the campaign trail in Haryana this week.

Ms Gandhi will visit the state on April 30 and address election rallies in Ambala and Hansi, while Mr Gandhi will campaign in the state on May 1 and address meetings at Sirsa (SC) and Nuh(Mewat). Union Minister for Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja is contesting on the Ambala (SC) seat where she is pitted against Rattan Lal Kataria of the BJP. Hansi falls in Hisar

Parliamentary constituency from where sitting Congress MP Jai Prakash has locked horns with former chief minister Bhajan Lal of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and former state finance minister Sampat Singh of the INLD.

Mr Rahul Gandhi will campaign in Sirsa (SC) where Indian Youth Congress president Ashok Tanwar is trying his luck for the first time.

Nuh, the second venue for Mr Gandhi's campaign, falls in Gurgaon constituency from where Union Minister of State for Defence Rao Indereet Singh is contesting.

“I am very happy that today Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is with us on the stage,” said Gandhi, who arrived at Lalgola around 11 a.m., flanked by Mukherjee and the Trinamool chief, as part of her day-long election campaign in the state.

Gandhi called Banerjee on to the dais and asked her to sit by her side.

The duo was also seen closely talking to each other on the stage, while other leaders were busy delivering speeches during the rally.

“We’re very happy that the Congress and Trinamool Congress have formed an alliance in the state. Now we’ll fight together against the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M),” said Tuntuni Das of Jagannathpur village who attended the rally.

“We are very hopeful of a good result in the coming election as we’re feeling more strong and united after this alliance,” Sahera Bibi of Ratunbihar said.

In her address, Banerjee called on the people to support the Congress and Trinamool Congress candidates in the coming general election to oust the communists from the state.

Terming Murshidabad as the district of “starvation, poverty and human trafficking”, she said: “We’ve jointly taken a pledge to defeat the ruling Left Front government in the state. And that will be only possible if people vote for us in the election.”

India's Congress party workers Friday hurled towels and flowers at their party chief Sonia Gandhi at Ujjain in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, not to protest but to show respect, said a senior Indian government official.

The Congress chairperson was campaigning for the country's general elections when workers hurled towels and flowers at her as they could not go near her due to security cordon, said the official.

"However, Gandhi later told them not to throw towels and flowers at her and broke the security cordon to get near to the supporters and had a talk with them," the official told the media.

Sonia Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi, also broke security cordon and got close to his supporters when he met with a huge election rally in the eastern state of West Bengal on Friday.

India's general elections are entering its mid-way as the previous two phases of polling completed. Three more phases of polling will be done in the coming weeks until mid-May.

Jetpur (Guj), Apr 24 : Attacking the BJP for L K Advani's remarks that if voted to power his party will not abrogate the nuclear deal, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi accused the saffron party of changing its stand on the issue.

"Now they (BJP) are saying that nuclear deal is acceptable to them. These same people did not allow Parliament to function for days and months on the same issue," Sonia said addressing a public meeting in Jetpur.

BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani had recently said in an interview that BJP, if voted to power, will not abrogate the nuclear deal as "we realise it's not easy to do so".

"After all, it's an international agreement and one signed between two countries and their governments," Advani had said.

On terrorism, Sonia said, "Those pointing fingers at us should introspect terrorist incidents that had happened during their rule. It was due to our policy that after the Mumbai terror attack, Pakistan has for the first time accepted that its soil was used for terrorism against us".

Sonia also raised the issue of loan given for the Nano car project without naming either the Tatas or Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who had said that the Congress president must do her "homework" before coming to the state.

"The government here has given loan worth crores of rupees to industry and they have to repay it after 20 years. But they are ignoring farmers," she said.

The Gujarat government has given a loan to Tatas for relocation of Nano car project from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in the state, which is to be repaid after 20 years.

"We do not have any problem against setting up of industries. But, I feel miserable when farmers are ignored," Sonia said.

She alleged that the state BJP government was looking for excuses for not implementing the loan waiver scheme introduced by the UPA government since the past two years.

Raising several local issues, Sonia targeted Modi claiming incomplete construction of Narmada dam canals, state government's indifference towards diamond workers who lost their jobs due to recession, corruption in 'Sujalam Suflam Water Project' and closing down of local industries.

"It was the Congress government that had started building the Narmada dam. I have learnt that people here are yet to get the water of dam as the state government has not built a small canal network. They have laid pipelines but the water has not reached you," Sonia stated.

"Before claiming the success of the Narmada Dam one should ask farmers whether they have received the water or not", she said.

Chennai, Apr 24 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi will launch his electioneering on May one and address poll meetings in just four towns, including Madurai, where his son M K Azhagiri would be making his electoral debut, contesting for the first time.

The octogenarian Chief Minister, who is confined to a wheel chair since undergoing a spine surgery a couple of months ago, will hit the campaign trial on May 1, addressing a meeting in Tiruchirapalli.

He would combine May day celebrations and electioneering in Tiruchirapalli, a party release said here today.

On May 5, Mr Karunanidhi would address a poll meeting in Madurai and follow it up with poll meetings in Coimbatore on May 8. He would wind up his brief tour campaigning in the city on May 11.

It was not yet immediately known, whether the DMK leader would address joint meetings with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. He had earlier said that whereever possible, he would address joint poll meetings with Ms Gandhi.

Lucknow, Apr 24 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi would address a public meeting in Rae Bareli tomorrow.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh today said Ms Gandhi would address the rally at GIC ground.

Ms Gandhi is the party's candidate for the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat going to polls under Phase-III on April 30.

Rajkot, Apr 24 : Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday slammed the Gujarat Government for dilly-dallying over advancing low interest loan to farmers.


Sonia Gandhi termed the BJP-ruled State Government’s attitude as pro-capitalist at the cost of the poor and rural folks.

“I am not surprised that the big industrialists are given thousands of crores loans at normal rates of interest which they pay after 20 years. But I feel sad that when our Central Government had decided to give seven percent interest of loan to farmers, the BJP-ruled State Government did not look upto it for two years and gave excuses,” Sonia Gandhi said at an election rally here.

She also appealed people to vote for the Congress for a strong and stable government.

Meanwhile in Purulia District of West Bengal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the daughter of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, said that she was glad to learn from the Election Commission that the voting percentage has increased this time in Uttar Pradesh.

“I couldn’t sleep the whole night when I initially heard the voting turnout percentage was just 40 percent but later when the Election Commission told me the percentage is actually 45.23 percent then it gave me a sigh of relief. I am very happy and will sleep well tonight. The percentage is better than last years’ 44 percent,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

From Nanoland, Narendra Modi launched a direct attack on Sonia Gandhi and challenged her to compare development in Gujarat with the lack of it in Rae Bareli and Amethi. He also invited her on an all expenses paid 'development tour' of Gujarat villages.

"Soniaben is coming to Gujarat next week," Modi said while speaking at a public meeting on Tuesday evening. "I request her to stay for a week and travel and see for herself the good roads and development in Gujarat. We will play a good host and, if Congress is not ready to put her up, we will do that."

Ridiculing the lack of development in Gandhi family's pocketborough constituencies, he assured Sonia that she will be able to communicate with her family in Italy via video-conferencing from any village in Gujarat.

"Soniaben, you and your family ruled Amethi and Rae Bareli for 50 years but, if you haven't been able to develop your constituencies, what development will you bring to the country?" asked Modi. The crowd responded with applause and laughter.
Meanwhile, steering a different strategy, the BJP started reaching out to the chairpersons and secretaries of various housing societies in the posh Satellite area of the city to ensure a good turnout of elite voters in its favour.

Patel claims UPA has funded Gujarat's development

Deflating Narendra Modi's claims about seamless development in Gujarat, Congress' Ahmed Patel retorted that Gujarat has indeed developed in recent years but, first, as the development has been funded by money granted by the UPA government, Modi should not take credit for it; and, second, the benefits have certainly not penetrated to the villages.

Refuting Modi's strident projections of inclusive rural development as "lies", Patel categorically said, "Go and ask the villagers whether they are happy with 'Vibrant' Gujarat? What is the ground reality? There are so many problems. During the last parliamentary elections, they came out with the 'India Shining' campaign. What was the ground reality of India Shining?" Patel said in an exclusive interview with DNA.

"I have never said there was no development in Gujarat. What I am saying is that if Modi says that he has done everything and no one else has done anything, it is absolutely wrong. The Central government has funded the schemes under which roads and other infrastructure have been developed," he said.

Addressing an election rally in Bharuch, Patel said, "The top echelons of society have got richer, while the poor have got poorer. Gujarat's debt burden has increasedsince Modi came to power."

Patna Calling Congress President Sonia Gandhi much "taller leader" than NDA's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani, Congress nominee and TV star Sekhar Suman, contesting from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat, has said that RJD chief Lalu Prasad is "non-secular".

"Soniaji is a couple of thousand feet taller than Advaniji. No parallel can be drawn in their statures," Suman, who is locked in a triangular fight with film-star Shatrughan Sinha and RJD'S Vijay Kumar Sahu to make his maiden entry into the Parliament,said in Patna on Monday.

"Sonia Gandhi having majority support could have become Prime Minister way back in 2004. But she sacrificed her candidature and decided to make Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister.

But Advani, despite his age, was harbouring ambitions for becoming Prime Minister and relentlessly canvassing for people's support, Suman said, adding the BJP leader's efforts reflected "selfishness of sorts".

Advani should have left a younger man in the race for the top job, he said

"While Sonia Gandhi has an image of representing people with secular credentials, Advani is leading a party which has a communal background," he said.

Asked why he considered Advani communal, Suman quickly responded saying it was not he but the people of the country who have judged that the saffron leader was heading a party having a communal agenda.

"Sonia Gandhi is a respectable and honest representative of India's secular polity," the film-star turned politician said.

On Sonia's foreign origin issue, he said the issue has been laid to rest. "We are proud that she decided to live in India to serve its interests even after the assassination of her husband Rajiv Gandhi," he said.

In reply to a question, Suman said Rahul Gandhi has started gaining political acumen and "I am sure he will be the leader of India in future".

On Congress projecting Manmohan Singh for a second term, he said "It supplements the points I raised about the Sonia-Rahul family, which is still ready to make sacrifices and is not interested for the top job only."

Criticising RJD chief and Railway minister Lalu Prasad for his outbursts against Congress that it was equally responsible for the demolition of Babri Masjid, Suman said "A person like Lalu Prasad who has never been secular doesn't have a right to speak on the issue".

"I claim that Lalu Prasad is casteist from the core of his heart. He cannot claim to be a leader of a secular platform," he said.

"It is unfortunate for Indian politics that a man who enjoyed power with Congress support in Bihar and at the Centre for a long period is showing marked opportunism," he said.

Suman, though, refused to press for Lalu's resignation from the Union Cabinet, as demanded by the state unit of the Congress.

"It speaks volumes about the latter's opportunist character," Suman said about Lalu's continuance in the Cabinet.

To another question as to why he chose Congress, Suman said "My choice has been influenced by the Congress leadership and the qualities it has shown to serve the people of India".

Asked about the preference of Bollywood stars for Congress or parties other than BJP, Suman said ''First of all I will like tell you we are unnecessarily being taken as Bollywood stars.''

''We belong to a Hindustani film-making industry where all of us are secular and will try our best to bolster the country's secular fabric ... We represent all castes and sections of societies and we want that the secular image of the country is maintained,'' he said.

Asked whether he believed Shatrughan Sinha, pitted against him, was a representative of communal forces, Suman's cryptic comment was ''I will only go by the people's decision about a person being secular or communal.''

Suman said the he was in contest with a potential rival but at the same time he respected Sinha a lot for a long time. ''Losing or winning will be decided by the voters but I am in the fight here to serve the people of my home town as it is the only way to justify one's position in a life-time,'' he said.

"There are several fronts for grabbing power and chair. These fronts have no ideals, principles and also no future," Gandhi told an election meeting in Bhadrak.


These fronts, she said, also have no political agenda for the betterment of the country and welfare of the people except to criticise the UPA government at the Centre headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

Hitting out at BJP, she said, "Congress never does politics in the name of religion on communal lines, whereas BJP is a communal party with an agenda to divide society." 

The UPA chairperson also lambasted the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa accusing it of "throwing all development works and welfare schemes into the sea".


Though the Congress-led UPA government pumped in thousands of crores of rupees into Orissa for development, the BJD failed to utilise the funds, Gandhi said. The state, she said, had been pushed to backwardness due to "misrule" by the Naveen Patnaik government in the last nine years.

Claiming that the country had made giant strides in the field of science and technology and space research during the UPA rule, Gandhi said a number of schemes had been implemented for speedy rural development and welfare of the poor.


The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the National Rural Health Mission and many other programmes were introduced by the UPA, but Orissa failed to get the benefit as it diverted Central funds, she alleged. 

Citing an example, the Congress president said the Centre had released Rs 42 crore for flood management in Bhadrak, but the state had "failed" to initiate work.

Stepping up attack on NDA's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani for his weak PM remarks against Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP leader himself "cannot take any decision without the approval of Sangh Parivar".

"The leader (Advani) who has targeted our Prime Minister, can he ever take a decision without the approval of Sangh Parivar? He even had to quit his post once. Then you know who is weak," she said.

"Congress does not run on the instruction or order of anybody. It takes its orders from people," she told an election rally in Pangidi.

Gandhi had on April 15 alleged that the BJP leader was a "slave of the RSS", while dismissing his oft-repeated charge of Manmohan Singh being a weak Prime Minister.

She ridiculed BJP's charges of the UPA being "soft on terror", saying her party has never been weak in fighting terrorists.

Highlighting the achievements of Congress governments since Independence, Gandhi said whether it is industrialisation or modernisation of the country, nationalisation of banks, empowerment of women through Panchayat Raj institutions, it is Congress which "has always taken the lead".

"You are aware of the rich history of Congress in securing independence for the country and building a prosperous nation. You know what is the contribution of Congress in nation-building," she said.

"Congress has undertaken infrastructure development in the country and provided reservations for dalits and tribals and brought green revolution," Sonia said.

"It is the Congress which has ushered in landmark schemes like NREGS, mid-day meal, Rs 72,000 crore loan waiver and technical education by building institutes of repute," she told the rally.

She appealed to the electorate to vote for Congress candidates in the elections "to take forward the development works undertaken by the party governments."

Speaking on the occasion, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy asked people "not to believe" TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu who is "promising to provide everything for free".

The TDP has an alliance with TRS that is opposed to irrigation projects like Pulichintala and Polavaram that are meant for development of the coastal Andhra region and they may not be achieved if the TDP came to power, he charged.

Reddy had earlier kicked up a political row by allegedly stating that people from coastal Andhra and Telangana would have to live like foreigners in Hyderabad if the TDP-led "Grand Alliance came to power".

Reddy, however, clarified that he merely stated the views expressed by TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao who had threatened to close down the educational institutions and businesses run by those from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

Silchar (Assam), April 13  In a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress president Sonia Gandhi Monday said the BJP-led government compromised on India’s national security by exchanging three terrorists for the Indian Airlines hostages in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in December 1999.

“Today one of them (Masood Azhar who later founded the Jaish-e-Mohammed) is masterminding terror acts in India and you know who was there in the government…it was Lal Krishna Advani who was then the deputy prime minister and also the home minister of India,” Gandhi told an election rally in the southern Assam town of Silchar.

“The Congress party would never compromise on terrorism and pledges to fight terror very firmly.”

Gandhi was on a daylong tour of the northeast and addressed election rallies in Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar, Meghalaya capital Shillong, and a poll meeting in Silchar.

“We need to wage a war against terrorism and also communalism…the BJP believes in false promises and propagandas,” the Congress president said.

Describing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a person with a “clean image”, Gandhi said the Congress party is the only party that could provide stability and good governance.

“Manmohan Singh, with his clean image and efficient leadership, can provide a strong government to the country,” Gandhi said.

Talking about the pre-poll tie-up between the BJP and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in Assam, the Congress president said such alliances were just for power and not in the interest of the common people.

“The AGP is a party based on false promises and hopes and the two of them got together for power alone,” she said.

Shillong, Apr 13 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address a public rally at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex here today.

sonia-gandhi-to-address-rally-in-meghalaya-today

She will address a rally in support of party candidate Vincent H Pala and Deborah C Marak for the Shillong and Tura Parliamentary seats respectively.

The two Lok Sabha constituencies will go to polls in the first phase of election on April 16.

Security has been tightened in view of Sonia’’s visit.

Around 1,500 armed police personnel have been pressed into service to avoid any kind of untoward incident.

A team of Special Protection Group (SPG) met state police officials to review security arrangements.

Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary also held review meetings with senior state government and police officials.

Meanwhile, patrolling has been intensified and control rooms have been set up for emergency.

Belgaum: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) star campaigner and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday blamed Congress president Sonia Gandhi for increasing atrocities on women and children in the country.

Filing of nominations in Uttar Pradesh can sometimes become a spectacle


The low-key nominations of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in Rae Bareli and Sultanpur (for Amethi) respectively are a study in contrast on how the filing of nominations changes from constituency to constituency and from candidate to candidate in Uttar Pradesh.

Although the Election Commission restrictions on the entry of supporters during filing of nominations — only five persons, including the candidate, are allowed — has prevented district headquarters from resembling a ‘mela,’ it has not deterred candidates and political parties from putting up a lavish display of wealth and pomp, with hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of hired supporters outside.

The show of strength and the ostentatious display of wealth depend largely on the political and financial status of the candidate. When Mr. Gandhi drove down to the Sultanpur district Collectorate on April 4 along with Ms. Gandhi to file his nomination for the Amethi parliamentary seat, he was welcomed by Congress supporters lined up by the roadside. But the crowd was not huge, and there was no disruption of traffic. There was some jostling when Mr. Gandhi came out to talk to the media, but he was whisked away by the SPG security personnel.

Ms. Gandhi’s nomination in Rae Bareli on Monday was even more low key. With the roads leading to the Collectorate cordoned off, her nomination was a quiet affair. Again, there was no choking of traffic. Given their status, Ms. Gandhi and Mr. Gandhi hardly needed to reinforce it with a show of pomp. Security considerations may have also influenced their low-key filing of nomination papers. But for others, the event has been anything but that. The former Congress Minister and now Bahujan Samaj Party candidate for the prestigious Lucknow seat, Akhilesh Das Gupta, showed off his status when he drove down in a mechanised ‘rath’ (chariot) to file his nomination on Saturday last. A former mayor of Lucknow, Dr Gupta, likes to do everything in style. As hundreds of his supporters, clad in blue and waving blue BSP flags, accompanied the huge march to the District Collectorate, the roads were jammed.

BJP’s cavalcade On Monday, it was the turn of the Bharatiya Janata Party supporters to flaunt their strength: traffic came to a standstill as Lalji Tandon, the party candidate from Lucknow, led a huge cavalcade of foot soldiers to the collectorate for filing his papers.

The Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow, Nafisa Ali, is due to submit her candidature before the nominations for the third phase close on Thursday, April 9. She will be accompanied by actor Sanjay Dutt.
With political parties and candidates trying to outdo one another, there is a possibility of the SP putting up a even bigger road show.

Upset over clean chit by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, various Sikh organisations Sunday called for a protest outside the residence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi Tuesday.

Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikh religion located inside the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, has asked Sikhs to join the protest outside 10 Janpath, the residence of Gandhi.

Akal Takht Jathedar (chief) Gurbachan Singh appealed to the Sikh community to reach Delhi for the protest organised by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the mini-parliament of Sikh religious affairs.

“Sikhs should unitedly protest this injustice to victims of those riots,” the Akal Takht chief said in Amritsar.
The Sikh leadership is upset that Tytler, who was accused of inciting mobs against the Sikhs in 1984, was given a clean chit by the CBI just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The riots erupted following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards at her official residence.

The CBI cleared Tytler of the allegations, saying the witnesses against him were not reliable.
Tytler is a Congress candidate from northeast Delhi Lok Sabha seat.

The Akal Takht chief also supported the ‘rail roko’ (stop trains) protest call by radical Sikh organisation, Damdami Taksal.

Hundreds of Sikhs were killed and injured in riots in Delhi and other parts of the country that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

Congress leaders Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, H.K.L. Bhagat and others were accused of leading the rioters against the community in Delhi.