LESSON 31
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World
War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” - Albert Einstein
“BSP the only alternative to Congress, BJP”
Party to build an equitable society |
Mayawati
Bhagalpur: Uttrar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said here on
Sunday that the Bahujan Samaj Party was committed to building an
“equitable” society and the party was the only alternative to the
Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, whose “policies are influenced by
big houses and brokers.”
Launching the BSP’s campaign for the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar at
Sandis ground here, she alleged that both the Congress and the BJP had
“grabbed power on the support of big industrial players and brokers and
ruined the country during their stints in power.”
Well-being of all castes
“The country’s economy will never improve if its policies are being
influenced by big houses and brokers,” the BSP leader said. She claimed
the current economic slowdown and price rise were result of the
policies followed by the Congress or the BJP-led governments and
promised that she would pursue the policies which would uplift all
sections the population. Ms. Mayawati said her party would ensure
reservations for the well-being of all castes without being confined to
the SC/STs’ interests alone.
“It is high time the BSP should come to power at the Centre,” she
said, claiming that the Opposition parties were worried because of the
BSP’s “clean, fair image and performance.”
“The BSP is the only party in the country which believes in doing
and not just making promises which is evident from the work being done
by it in Uttar Pradesh,” Ms. Mayawati said. She alleged the rival
parties had done nothing for upper castes, scheduled castes, scheduled
tribes and minorities, but during elections they would try to mislead
them by announcing a plethora of schemes.
She was canvassing support for her party’s nominees, including Ajit
Sharma (Bhagalpur), M.K. Singh (Banka), Navin Shastri (Munger), Bhagwan
Das (Jamui), Madan Mohan Nishadh (Katihar), Asarfi Paswan (Khagaria),
Navin Kumar Singh (Purnia), Kuber Alam (Kishanganj), in Bihar’s
Bhagalpur, Kosi and Purnia divisions.
Expressing concern over large-scale migration of youths to other
States in search of jobs, she said if BSP was voted to power, it would
formulate a policy guaranteeing jobs to the unemployed in their
respective States. — PTI
With States emerging as the principal battleground,Mayawati’s political charisma has shifted to a higher level-THREE BASKETS STUDY CIRCLE |
How they stack up
Mayawati Manmohan Singh L K Advani
Strong Leadership 100 35 30
Honesty 100 30 25
Trustworthiness 100 20 0
In an image driven world, this Lok Sabha election stands out in that it
is dominated one personality. Mayawati is the transformative figure such as U.S. President Barack Obama — Manmohan Singh and L K Advani is not even equivalent to Tony Blair, Mahathir Mohamad, Hugo Chavez
or Sheikh Hasina around whom votes crystallise. A look at the popularity chart of the our leaders over
the last decade reveals that the single exception to this was Mayawati who emerged as a national leader.
Same question
The figures are drawn from various surveys conducted by the THREE BASKETS STUDY CIRCLE. The surveys have always
asked the same open-ended question (“Who would you like to be the Prime
Minister of the country?”) to a representative national sample of
respondents without offering any choices. About one-sixth of the
respondents offered only Mayawati as a preference.
The latest such survey, the THREE BASKETS STUDY CIRCLE poll, was carried out in mid-January this year. It showed that only single leader enjoyed
even 100 per cent support of the citizens for the Prime Minister’s
position.
Manmohan Singh at 12 per cent and Lal Krishna Advani at 10 per cent.
Other leaders
Other leaders who secured the support of at least one per cent or
more were: Sharad Pawar (1.0),Lalu Prasad (0.9), Nitish Kumar (0.8).
If asked directly to choose the ‘best leader’ for the country from
among Ms. Mayawati, Manmohan Singh and Mr. Advani, 80 per
cent prefer Ms.
Mayawati, Manmohan Singh 13 per cent,Mr. Advani at seven per cent.
When asked to compare certain attributes of these leaders,Ms. Mayawati was rated highest for being a strong leader, honest and trustworthiness leader .
These findings would disappoint Mr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Advani.
They face a challenge from within their parties
including their allies whose national rating stands at less than one per
cent.
Jammu (PTI): Blaming the Congress and
BJP for the plight of people of different sections across the country,
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday said that the party
would take all measures to ensure justice to all, especially the
downtrodden.
“There has been no change in the lives
of downtrodden and the poor in the last 60 years. It has either been
the Congress or BJP that ran governments since independence”, said the
BSP supremo while addressing an election rally at parade ground here.
The BSP has fielded contestants in five out of six Lok Sabha seats in
Jammu and Kashmir.
Attacking the past governments’, Ms.
Mayawati said, “Those belonging to sc/st and other backward sections
continue to face unemployment and poverty and the ruling parties at the
Centre have not taken measures to alleviate their problems.
The Congress and BJP have mostly made
economic policies and programmes to enhance the welfare of the rich,
she alleged and said, “it is because of these policies that we are
witnessing price escalation in the country.”
Madurai ground out of bounds for Maya rally
27 Mar 2009, 0407 hrs IST, TNN
MADURAI: The Madurai district administration and city police have
refused to give the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) the use of Tamukkam
grounds in Madurai for holding the public meeting to be addressed by party
president Mayawati on April 3.
The party has sought an explanation for this refusal under the Right
To Information Act. BSP general secretary, Suresh Mane, told reporters
that he was informed of the inability of the district administration
to provide Tamukkam as the venue for the public meeting, when he met
district collector P Seetharaman and commissioner of police K
Nandhabalan in Madurai on Monday.
“We had given our application to the Madurai corporation commissioner
15 days ago and were granted permission, but now we have come to know
that there is a problem in providing the ‘no objection’ certificate
and we have asked for an explanation, ” he said.
Mayawati will be launching her Tamil Nadu campaign on April 3 in
Madurai and may visit the state again before she winds up her national
campaign sometime in May.
Filing of nominations for the second phase of elections picks up momentum
New Delhi, Mar 29 (ANI): The filing of nominations for Assembly andLok Sabha seats has picked up momentum with President Pratibha Patil
issuing a notification for the second phase of elections.
The second phase of polling, scheduled on April 23 would include 25
seats in Maharashtra, 20 in Andhra Pradesh, 17 each in Uttar Pradesh
and Karnataka, 13 each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and 11 each in Assam
and Orissa.
A total of 130 nominations were filed for Lok Sabha and 1086
nominations for Assembly in the sixth day on Saturday for the coming
Lok Sabha elections.
Several prominent candidates including Ministers, sitting MPs and MLAs filed nomination papers.
In Chhattisgarh, 48 candidates from different political parties
submitted their nominations. The nominations included two candidates of
the Congress, four of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and five of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Other parties like the Chhattisgarh Vikash Party, Gondwana Gantantra Party have also fielded their candidates in the state.
In Orissa, one independent candidate has filed his nomination for Lok Sabha election and two candidates for Assembly election.
The last date for filing nominations is April 4. These nominations will be examined on April 6.
April 8 is the date for withdrawal of nominations, according to State Election Office release.
Notification for the first phase involving 124 constituencies was
issued on March 23. Counting of votes for all five phases would be
taken up on May 16. (ANI)
Mayawati launches BSP campaign in Bihar
Patna, March 29 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati kicked off her party’s election
campaign in Bihar Sunday.
“Please bring BSP to power at the centre to serve all, particularly the
poor and weaker sections of the society,” Mayawati said in her address
at a public meeting in Bhagalpur town, about 200 km from here.
“I appeal to you to support and vote only for BSP. Don’t vote for
any other party because they have betrayed you and did not fulfil their
promises,” Mayawati said.
The BSP leader accused the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and other political parties of ignoring the plight of the poor in
the last six decades.
“The socio-economic condition of the majority of the poorest of the poor has not changed till date,” she said.
Mayawati said that poor people from Bihar were forced to migrate to
big cities in search of livelihood as successive governments in the
state and centre did not bother to develop Bihar.
BSP is contesting alone in Bihar on all 40 seats in the state.
Bihar will go to the polls in four phases — April 16, 23, 30 and May 7 — to elect 40 members to the Lok Sabha.
Candidates queue up to file nominations in K’handi
The Pioneer, March 29, 2009
PNS | Bhawanipatna
With
the general elections approaching fast, party candidates and
independents have started queuing up to file their nomination papers in
Kalahandi district.
Two candidates filed their nomination
papers for Bhawanipatna Assembly seat, which has been reserved for
Scheduled Caste (SC), on Friday. Pradipta Kumar Naik, who was a sitting
MLA of the BJP, filed his nomination this time too on the party ticket
at the office of Bhawanipatna sub-collector. Another candidate Ramani
Dora from Samrudha Odisha also filed his nomination for this
constituency.
For Junagarh Assembly seat (general), four
candidates, Chintamani Bag from Lok Jansakti Party (LJP), Bamdev Durga
from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Satya Behera from Samrudhha Odisha and
Panchanana Dhangda Majhi from Republican Party of India (RPI),
reportedly filed nomination papers at the office of Dharmagarh
sub-collector.
Similarly, three candidates, Janardan Panda from
BJP, Hira Bag from Samrudha Odisha and Kalyani Naik from BSP filed
their nominations for Dharmagarh Assembly seat. One independent
candidate Dambrudhar Sunani filed his nomination for one Parliamentary
seat here.
Varun Gandhi gets bail, but remains behind bars
PILIBHIT (Uttar Pradesh): BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi
got bail on Monday in criminal cases
against him, but will remain behind the bars as he also faces charges under the
stringent National Security Act (NSA). (
Watch
)
A
court in Pilibhit granted bail to the young leader in two cases filed against
him for allegedly communal and inflammatory speeches he made in the run-up to
the elections and violence by his supporters when he was arrested on Saturday.
However, he will not be freed as the Uttar Pradesh government had
slapped charges under the NSA on him late Sunday night, officials said.
The BJP has announced Varun Gandhi, son of former central minister
Maneka Gandhi, will be its candidate from Pilibhit.