MECE1UH@jetson.uh.edu (Shashi Menon) (05/08/91)
Latest on the Election front ---------------------------- (source : Times of India & Hindu; Delhi edition - 4th to 7th May) The headlines report of the BJP 'coup' of getting the wife of Mr. K C Pant to join the party. She claimed that the 'mistreatment' of her husband by the Cong.(I) - I guess she means his not being given a ticket from Nainital - was the last straw that made her take the final step of joining the party although she had been a BJP supporter for a long time. Election related violence is on the upswing in Bihar. Rallies organised by the Cong.(I) and the BJP , being addressed by Rajiv Gandhi and L K Advani respectively were disrupted by stone throwing mobs, claimed by both parties to be JD supporters. Police raids have uncovered a large quantities of homemad arms most of which are freely available in the market. The violence has reached such levels that the govt. is contemplating imposition of President's rule in the state and postponing the elections so that more security forces will be available. In Punjab too, despite the promises of the militants of a peaceful poll, seven candidates have been murdered in the last week alone. Other misc. news: ----------------- Contrary to what was reported on the net, Mr. L K Advani was in New Delhi on the last day of filing nominations. He then flew over to Gandhi Nagar to file nominations papers after the news of Mr. Rajesh Khanna being his opponent was 'leaked' to the press that day. Same was the situation with Mr. Vajpayee who went to M P from Lucknow to fill his papers after one Mr. Bachchan was spotted in Lucknow that day. The candidate contesting from Lucknow on the JD(S) ticket is a 'heavyweight' with a long criminal record, who had created waves just before last elections by 'mysteriously' appearing on photographs with RG and VPS. The Cong.(I) candidate from the Karol Bagh constituency is Mrs. Krishna Tirath and not Mr. D D Shastri. Mrs. Tirath is a well known social worker and has obviously been put in to attract the sikh community concentrated in some parts of the constituency. Mr. Shastri was earlier expelled from the Cong.(I) after he had filed nomination papers under a party named, 'Indian National Congress Forum' of which he claims Mr. Chandra Shekar is a patron (whatever that means). BBC News : Midnight GMT (1900 CST) --------------------------------- BBC reported that 15 muslim militants ( BBC wording, not mine) were shot dead by the Army in an ambush. The ambush was set up to entrap a group of 300 militants who were trying to cross into Indian held Kashmir from the occupied part. The security forces captured a few militants and a large cache of arms. Most of the remaining militants escaped back to Pak occupied Kashmir. No casualties were reported on the Indian side. --------------------------------------------- Shashi Menon ============================================= Edited by Surekha Reddy Gaddam