Ticket for a UP ride: Sonia likely to figure in poll list
Sonia Gandhi's name is likely to figure in the list of Lok Sabha candidates to be submitted by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president ND Tiwari over the next two days to the party high command. Tiwari is likely to propose only Sonia's name for two Lok Sabha constituencies in the State, Rae Bareli and Amethi, both represented by members of the Nehru family in the past.
Dheeran booted out of PMK
The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has expelled its president, Dheeran, from the party. The stern measure is aimed at quelling any incipient rebellion in its ranks against the PMK's decision to align with the AIADMK-BJP front.
Congress ready to give 15 seats to allies
The notification of the election schedule by the Election Commission yesterday has lent a new urgency to the on-going talks between Congress and other secular parties in Maharashtra. The former has decided to give away between 13 to 15 seats out of 48 in the state to its allies.
Empty coffers makes Mamata run to BJP
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee yesterday confirmed that party leaders were carrying out "informal talks" with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a tie-up for the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal. The possible tie-up with the BJP is necessitated more by the near-empty coffers than for any other reason, ideological or otherwise.
BSP, Cong love-hate relationship: Friends in Punjab, foes in MP
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Kanshi Ram yesterday virtually accused Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh of being the main stumbling block in an alliance with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. After cementing an alliance with the Congress in Punjab, Kanshi Ram disclosed that his party would have gone for a similar tie-up in Madhya Pradesh, but for Digvijay.
CM denies breach of EC code
Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi on Wednesday refuted Union home minister S B Chavan's charge that the state cabinet had violated the election code of conduct by deciding to return lands belonging to lessee farmers leased out to the State Agriculture Corporation decades ago. Chavan had taken strong exception to the state cabinet's decisions, besides, Joshi's pronouncements on the demolition of slums.
