BSP candidate cries foul

Arindam Roy

[Saturday, April 10, 2004 01:38:40 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK]

PRATAPGARH: The BSP candidate from Pratapgarh, Shiv Prakash Mishra alias Senani, has faxed a formal complaint to the chief election commissioner on Friday afternoon about the misuse of jail premises.

He said in the complaint that the Pratapgarh district jail is being used as residence-cum-office of the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Akshay Pratap Singh alias Gopaljee, from the day of his filing nomination papers on April 5.

Sharing the contents of the letter with Times News Network, he said, "The election cannot be free and fair, till the district jail is used as SP party office," and pleaded, "it should be allowed to function as district jail."

The letter explained, "Before filing his nomination papers, on April 5, 2004, Gopaljee organised meetings, performed 'puja' and left for filing his papers from the jail. In the light of these facts, the fairness of the poll is in grave danger."

The district and jail administrations are acting in favour of legislator and Pota accused Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, under his influence.

Mishra also demanded that penal action be initiated against Raja Bhaiyya who should be shifted from Pratapgarh to any other jail.

"Pratapgarh parliamentary constituency (No. 20), is hyper sensitive, wherein Pota accused Akshay has taken undue advantage of being released on bail. He is a notorious criminal, against whom nearly 37 criminal cases are listed in Pratapgarh and Sultanpur districts," Mishra wrote.

He added, "Raja Bhaiyya, a Pota detenu, is conducting and coordinating the election of Gopaljee, who used the jail premises as his election office, even after he was bailed on personal bond."

Gopaljee and KN Ojha, PRO of Raja Bhaiyya were not available for comments. Their cell phones were out of the network area.

Meanwhile, on the complaint of the Congress candidate Rajkumari Ratna Singh, the Election Commission has tightened its noose.

A barrier has been put up outside the Pratapgarh jail and CISF jawans have been posted to keep a vigil on the movements of the visitors. All visitors are being thoroughly searched about 150 metres from the jail gate.

On the basis of intelligence report that election is being conducted from the jail, the district administration acted to save its skin.

Recently, district magistrate RS Verma sent a letter to IG prisons, requesting to post DIG jail on the polling day.

Taking cognizance of the DM's letter, the administration has decided that a DIG would be posted in the jail within a couple of days, according to sources.

Kaif's father missed the action, yet again

Arindam Roy & Abbas Ali

[Thursday, March 25, 2004 10:58:57 pm TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]


ALLAHABAD: The euphoria was unending. People came out in large numbers to celebrate India's first-ever One-day International series win on Pakistan.

They burst crackers, sprinkled colours, fired gunshots and danced to rejoice the victory of the local lad, Mohammad Kaif and Saurav's boys in blue.

Talking to TNN Mohammad Tarif, father of Mohammad Kaif said, "The Indians created history by winning the One-day series and I'm confident that India will win the Test series also". He is superstitious about watching the match. He said he and his wife, Qaisar Jahan had gone to some place, on Wednesday.

"His (Kaif's) rise to importance in the team has been hard work, patience when dealing with tough situation" Tarif added. Outside Kaif's Cooper Road house, in Civil Lines, there was a riot of colours and crackers.

If Jaya comes will Joshi go?

Arindam Roy

[Saturday, March 06, 2004 03:26:43 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK]


ALLAHABAD: Will Jaya Bachhan contest from Allahabad, as most people in this city believe? In that case, will HRD minister M M Joshi, three times MP from this seat, play safe by fighting from another 'safe' seat?

The possibility of Jaya Bachchan as a Samajwadi Party candidate has already charged up Allahabad. So much so that Joshi, who'd created some sort of record by scoring a hat-trick, might be tempted to hedge his bets.

Jaya already has a toehold in UP: she's the chairperson of UP Film Development Corporation.

The buzz is that Joshi is considering playing it safe. He is looking at Uttaranchal and might contest from a safe seat there simultaneously.

Former UP chief minister Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna who represented Allahabad had also played safe by contesting from Pauri Garhwal in 1980 as a Congress candidate and later as an Independent in 1982.

Although BJP sources trash the chances of the minister leaving the city where he has done 'so much', Joshi dropped hints about a move at a press conference on February 24.

He had said that he was awaiting the BJP's directive and would contest from wherever the party asked him to. He also said that Jaya was most welcome.

As for Jaya, local SP folks claim that Amar Singh has convinced her to contest from Allahabad, where Amitabh defeated Bahuguna with a huge margin of 1.9 lakh votes.

(Also published in Economic Times)

BJP's fear exposed by Priyanka, Rahul's entry

Arindam Roy

[Sunday, February 01, 2004 10:48:11 pm TIMES NEWS NETWORK]


ALLAHABAD: BJP's protest against the entry of Priyanki and Rahul in politics has exposed the mental hollowness of its leaders and revealed their fear, said Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the president of the All India Mahila Congress.

She added that she would request Sonia Gandhi, on behalf of the party, to field either of them from Allahabad, in the forthcoming parliamentary election. Talking to the Congressmen of Jasra and Shankargarh, she said the party was ready to face any eventuality, under Sonia Gandhi's leadership. The BJP and its allies were a worried lot.

Lambasting the BJP leadership for launching a smear campaign against the Gandhi family, which had sacrificed two leaders for the country, Joshi said that the countrymen would teach them a befitting lesson. Taking a dig at the feel good factor, she said that more than 30 crore people were below the poverty line and human development index was 136 amongst 176 countries. There are 3.5 crore registered unemployed people in the country. Farmers, weavers and labourers commit suicide.

And in a country where the plight of women continues to be deplorable, how could its Prime Minister feel that there was a feelgood factor?

Commenting on the sad state of affairs in Allahabad constituency, she said that while MM Joshi took up big projects, he remained unaware of the condition of people of the country. While Shankargarh and Koraon, 50 primary schools had been closed, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, that he talks about held no meaning, she said.

The Rs 1.5 crore drinking water project of the Congress government was gathering dust and was steeped in corruption, but Joshi is blind to it. For four years, the Women's ITI building has been lying vacant, with leaky roofs. Triveni Sheet Glass has retrenched 80,000 employees, but these seem to be of no concern of the BJP minister, she remarked.

GRP unhappy with Railway minister's decision

Arindam Roy

[Saturday, January 31, 2004 12:41:32 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK]


ALLAHABAD: Presenting the interim railway budget in the Parliament on Friday, Railway minister Nitish Kumar said some sections of the IPC is vested with the Railway Police Force, after taking it away from the Government Railway Police (GRP). The GRP, which is a part of the state police force(s), is upset about losing its powers. This was revealed by sources in the North Central Railway (NCR), here.

Sources pointed out that there have been several cases of crime, on the trains in the past. Instead of controlling the crime, the GRP, many a times were found to be aiding and abetting it. In some cases, they were directly involved in it.

On Friday (January 30), two GRP constables were involved in robbery, in coach number 03568A of 2388 Dn, Jan Sadharan Express. Action is being taken against them.

Earlier, on July 22, 2003, a dalit woman had filed a case of rape against a GRP constable on Orai railway station. It was said, she was regularly ‘insulted’ by the said policeman. Finally, on the night of the said day, he overpowered her and outraged her modesty. The outcome is not known.

On February 17, 2003, a police squad snatched goods and bashed up passengers, between Tundla and Ferozabad stations. A year before this, on February 6, 2002, 50 police personnel looted cash and edible items from the pantry car of Delhi bound 2027 Kerala Express at Karari station, at 10 AM. These policemen caught hold of a person, Shennoy, who was beaten blue and black. When his colleagues wished to intervene, they were threatened. Afraid that they would be shot at, they remained mute spectators. The railway officials registered a case of dacoity. No one has still been punished, sources said.

Between April and September 2003, there were 22 cases of drugging in NCR trains. Of these, 12 were in Allahabad division, two in Jhansi division and eight in Agra division. There were five cases of dacoities (robbery with violence), four in Allahabad and one in Jhansi divisions. The number of robberies was four (three in Allahabad and one in Jhansi divisions).