Swamy accuses Chidambaram of taking economy to 'complete mess'

        Bangalore, Mar 30 (PTI) BJP leader Subramanian Swamy today
accused Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram of having left
the country's economy in a "complete mess" and said the next
government led by Narendra Modi would have to undertake major
reforms to undo the damage caused by the UPA government.
        "We are in a very, very delicate situation and the new
government will have to undertake major economic reforms to
rectify what damage the UPA has done to Indian economy," Swamy
told reporters here.
        Hitting out at UPA government for economic growth rate of
4.8 per cent when compared to NDA's 8.4 per cent, he said
fiscal deficit was at all time high and could lead to a major
crisis.
        "....government has now reached the stage that for every
Rupee that they borrow from public sector bank, 96 paisa they
have to repay as interest on principal for the previous loan."
        He said, "we are in a complete mess and the most alarming
part of today's situation is that the budget has been put in
such a difficult and bad state by Chidambaram ..."
        Stating that the next government would be led by Modi,
Swamy said, "it is going to face a situation of bankruptcy of
Indian economy, which it will have to rectify within six
months."
        BJP's manifesto will speak about some of the economic
reforms planned by the party, he added.
        Contesting UPA's claim that large part of economic crisis
is due to external crisis, he said "....we were affected by
the instrument created by Chidambaram that was called
participatory note....participatory note is a method of
laundering money that goes out of India to bring it back and
invest it in our stock market."
        "...the crisis was entirely due to UPA in creating an
instrument, derivative called participatory note....it is the
most dangerous money laundering weapon created in any country;
....tomorrow we abolish participatory note all this crisis
will disappear.
        Calling Unique Identification Authority of India as "one
more scam in making" he said "...this scheme is the most
useless scheme as judged by study done by the IIM-Ahmedabad
and the standing committee of Parliament on Finance."
        "In my opinion Nilekani should be prosecuted under Section
13 (1) (d) part 3 of the Prevention of Corruption Act for
squandering national resources to US-based companies
involved."

Tweet: #Subramanian #Swamy accuses #Chidambaram of taking economy to complete mess Read at: http://bdnarayankar20.blogspot.in/2014/03/swamy-accuses-chidambaram-of-taking.html …
#UPA #Rahul #Economy #Sonia

Parties hit by electoral blues in Karnataka

        Bangalore, Mar 30 (PTI) Electoral blues of one type or
the other has hit all the three principal players -- ruling
Congress, BJP and JDS -- in the run up to Lok Sabha polls in
Karnataka, with the Deve Gowda-led party facing most
embarrassing ones.
        With an open-door policy for party hoppers, JDS scrambled
for candidates in the eleventh-hour as it sought to fish in
troubled waters of its opponents and lay its hands on "prize
catch" in a predatory move that backfired in several cases.
        The party faced the most embarrassing moment on Saturday,
when its candidate for Uttara Kannada, former minister
Shivananda Nayak bowed out of the race, citing financial
constraint, leaving Gowda red-faced.
        A former BJP MLA, he had joined Karnataka Janatha Paksha,
which former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa floated and
recently merged with his parent party, before embracing JDS.
        JDS recently roped in former Union Minister Dhananjay
Kumar from KJP after he was refused entry to BJP and Mahima
Patel from Congress. Kumar has been fielded from
Udupi-Chikkamagalur and Patel, son of former Chief Minister J
H Patel, in Davanagere.
        It also almost coaxed former Railway Minister C K Jaffar
Sharief, who miffed at being denied the ticket from Bangalore
Central, had given strong indications about joining JDS.
        Sharief, a seven time MP, left the Congress but developed
cold feet on his entry to JDS, which was toying with the idea
of fielding him as its candidate in Bangalore Central, where
minorities have a significant sway, or in Mysore.
        Similar was the case with former high-profile Bangalore
Police Commissioner H T Sangliana, who had complained that his
Congress party had ignored Christians, picking up which JDS
had tried to woo him but he too had a change of mind to remain
in his own party.
        The final list of 12 candidates at last came on
Wednesday. JDS whose influence is mainly spread across the
Vokkaliga belt is contesting all the 28 Lok Sabha seats.
        In the case of BJP, the party ended with egg on its face
when it discarded right wing outfit Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod
Muthalik within hours after inducting him, after criticism
within the party and its opponents.
        A rebuffed Muthalik, whose outfit was linked with the
2009 attack on young women at a Mangalore pub as part of its
moral policing, is now contesting against state BJP chief
Prahlad Joshi from Dharwad and also against Ananth Kumar whom
he blamed for his plight, from Bangalore South.
        Congress is also having its own set of woes. In Mandya,
actress Ramya who won the seat in a bye-election, is fighting
the battle with a divided district unit.
        Similarly, Congress is facing simmering discontent in
local units in several other constituencies, including Shimoga
where Kumar Bangarappa had openly expressed his displeasure
over being denied the ticket.
        He has accused some party leaders of conspiring against
him but has not jumped into the fray.
        The party failed to retain Sharief, whose is influential
among Muslims in Bangalore Central, though its efforts paid
off in preventing the exit of Sangliana.

B D Narayankar

THE REAL VILLAINS OF GUJARAT 2002

Rajesh Singh writes in Pioneer

Congress leader Beni Prasad Verma does not want any harm to come to Narendra Modi. He recently said, “When you get innocent people killed, then there will obviously be a threat to your life. But, don't worry; we would not let him die.” There is also apparently a threat to the lives of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, which is why they have been given the highest levels of security. How many innocent people have these two got killed?

But not every leader in the Congress wants Modi to live. The party's Lok Sabha candidate from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, is one among them. Addressing a gathering, Imran Masood said, “Uttar Pradesh is not Gujarat. There is only four per cent Muslim population in Gujarat, but in Uttar Pradesh there are 22 per cent Muslims. We will cut him to pieces.”

Unaware that his hate-mongering was being recorded, Masood first said the video clip may have been of earlier days (as if that justifies the blood lust), and later apologised. But the issue has extracted a price. Rahul Gandhi had to condemn the remark as Congress spokespersons desperately tried to deflect attention from Masood’s shocker.

The root cause of such burning hatred is the communal violence that had rocked Gujarat in 2002, a little over four months after Modi took over as Chief Minister for the first time. From Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi down to the ordinary Congress worker on the street, everybody in the party has been harping on Modi's supposed complicity in the violence that left hundreds of Muslims (and Hindus) dead. Ever since Modi became the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, the slander campaign has picked momentum. But while these leaders spew venom at Modi all over the country, they refrain from raking up the issue directly in Gujarat itself.

There is a reason. The people of Gujarat know that Congress leaders were among the perpetrators of the crime, and they had mixed freely with the marauding, fanatic mobs. The Congress would be exposed among the people who know better. So, its leaders find it safer to shoot from the safe confines of television studios in Delhi and elsewhere in the country.

When Rahul Gandhi was asked by a television anchor whether Congress leaders had been involved in the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984, he said, “Some Congressmen were probably involved”. Will he admit the same if he were to face a similar question about Gujarat 2002?

The fact of Congress leaders' complicity in the violence is direct and certainly more credible than the accusations the party has been levelling against Modi. Yet, there is a complete absence of public discourse on the issue. It suits the secular politicians to keep the focus on Modi, and it suits the secular media not to dilute a long-standing debating point by dragging in inconvenient truths.

In his recently released book, Narendra Modi: A Political Biography, British author Andy Marino deals at length with the horrific first few days when the violence broke out, and with the greatly debated episode of senior Congress leader Ehsan Jafri who was killed by a mob in Gulbarg Society. He says, “What is certain is that Ehsan Jafri made numerous calls pleading with his colleagues in the local Congress party to come to his aid. They did not help him because... plenty of them — such as local Congressman Mehrsinh Chaudhry — were among the very mob attacking his house.”

It is not just the direct involvement of Congress leaders in the 2002 violence which exposes the party and its hysterical outbursts against Modi. Marino writes (and so did Madhu Purnima Kishwar in her book, Modi, Muslims and Media: Voices from Narendra Modi's Gujarat) that three Congress-ruled States had turned down Modi's request for help to contain the violence. But we do not discuss anything about this shocking and almost criminal act of denial of help from a party which has been crucifying the Gujarat Chief Minister. It never comes up in debates in television studios and in the print media.

Marino writes, “Modi appealed to the Chief Ministers of Gujarat's three neighbouring States — Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan, the late Vilasrao Deshmukh in Maharashtra and Digvijay Singh in Madhya Pradesh — to send aid in the form of law enforcement and paramilitary personnel. He made the modest request of 10 companies of armed police from each State.” The letters of request were sent to the three Congress Chief Ministers on March 1, barely a day after after the violence broke out. What was the response? Marino notes, “Maharashtra eventually sent a very limited number of personnel to help, but the others flatly refused.” In fact, there was not even a reply from Digvijaya Singh to the SOS for nearly two weeks, and when it came it was to rebuff the request on the pretext that the personnel could not be spared “due to heavy commitments of Madhya Pradesh Special Armed Force within the State”.

Marino has rightly observed that “Digvijay Singh's indifference during the riots materially contributed to Gujarat's suffering and Muslim deaths.” This is the same Digvijaya Singh who remains among the most vociferous and venomous critics of Modi. Is it not time at least now for the media to question the likes of such leaders every time they repeat their diatribe against the BJP's prime ministerial candidate?

But much of the media, then as it is now, was content to play up sensational stuff — so what if it was based on unsupportable material — and play down parts of the news that did not fit in with their mindset. The media, barring exceptions, continues to promote its prejudices. Marino offers the example of how the media reported the burning to death of nearly 60 passengers, including kar sevaks,in the Sabarmati Express at the Godhra station on February 27. One English paper, he points out, wrote of a mob “reportedly belonging to a minority community”; another national daily refused to identify the religious composition of the murderous group; yet another paper with Leftist leaning  said the attackers were “a group of people”; a leading television news channel called them “unidentified persons”. Not many had bothered to report that these mobs had been led by certain prominent local Congress leaders.

Marino sarcastically comments that while no reporter had a problem with accurately identifying the victims, the “attackers were a mystery”. That the killers belonged to the Muslim community, had become almost an embarrassment to the media, but the journalists were thrilled to report that the assailants in the aftermath of the train-burning incident comprised members and supporters of the Bajrang Dal and other fringe Hindu outfits.

Modi-baiters have branded authors like Madhu Kishwar, and now MJ Akbar, as ‘turncoats” and “Modi sycophants”, but what do they have to say about Andy Marino? Perhaps the British writer is on Modi's payroll!

Tweets: PlainTalk by Rajesh Singh, Opinion Editor of The Pioneer. Must Read http://bdnarayankar20.blogspot.in/2014/03/the-real-villains-of-gujarat-2002.html …
#Moditva #AndyMarino #Digvijay #AshokGehlot

#ModiBaiters have branded authors like #MadhuKishwar, and now #MJAkbar, as ‘turncoats” and “Modi sycophants, writes #RajeshSingh in Pioneer

But what do Modi-baiters have to say about #AndyMarino? Perhaps the #British writer is on #Modi's payroll!, Rajesh Singh writes in Pioneer

#ModiBaiters have branded authors like #MadhuKishwar, and now #MJAkbar, as ‘turncoats” and “Modi sycophants, writes #RajeshSingh in Pioneer

#DigvijaySingh's indifference during riots materially contributed to #Gujarat's suffering & Muslim deaths - #Andy #Marino #AshokGehlot #MP

#Modi had sought help from #Digvijay to contain #2002Violence, but he flatly refused. Why doesn't media take this up for discussion?

#DigvijaySingh's indifference during riots materially contributed to #Gujarat's suffering & Muslim deaths - #Andy #Marino #AshokGehlot #MP

Plenty of them, such as local #Cong man Mehrsinh Chaudhry were among the mob attacking #EhsanJafri's house - UK author #AndyMarino #Moditva

Is Narendra Modi playing Mayawati's cards!

TJS George writes:

Politicians' shenanigans are getting bolder and nastier by the day. The Narendra Modi personality cult is raised to the level of equating him with the revered Mahadev himself (Har, har, Modi!); P Chidambaram threatens to turn Gandhian and devote himself to “serving my people” in Sivaganga; Sharad Pawar shows no shame in asking his followers to break the law and vote twice; Dhananjay Munde boasts that he organised one lakh bogus votes for his uncle and BJP leader Gopinath Munde. And all these patriots are roaming free, ready to lead our country to  glory.

Serial roguery of this kind hits the headlines. Less noticed, yet more serious, is the growing religious polarisation with casteism assuming new dimensions. It is true that in the current season Varun Gandhi is not offering to cut off the palms of Muslims. Nor is Akbaruddin Owaisi bragging about his followers’ ability to finish off 100 crore Hindus in 15 minutes. But the Abominable Religionists are still at large. Congress candidate Imran Masood promises to “chop Narendra Modi into pieces”. Kerala’s Christian priests instigate their flocks to revolt against restrictions on big-ticket development in the Western Ghats; one of them warned of a Jallianwala Bagh massacre in the hills.

In states where caste has been a determining factor in elections, there are new alignments triggering new upheavals. In Uttar Pradesh’s urban centres, Brahmins were traditionally seen as a BJP votebank. “Highclass Brahmins” who represented key constituencies for long, such as Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalraj Mishra, were edged out this time for the convenience of Narendra Modi and friends. Uttar Pradesh Brahmins are seething with anger.

In Bihar, Brahmins and Bhumihars are angry because they see the BJP’s ruling clique ignoring them and favouring the Backward Castes. In important constituencies ranking BJP leaders raised the banner of revolt. They saw a conspiracy in Backwards who opposed Narendra Modi early on gaining the upperhand now. Their argument, which applies to the Hindi belt in general, is that if the BJP ignores its traditional upper-caste votebanks, it will lose more than it gains.

In Haryana, half the BJP’s candidates are turncoats from other parties, picked for their caste value. In Rajasthan, the age-old rivalry between Rajputs and Jats has turned unusually bitter with the BJP’s denial of ticket to Jaswant Singh, a Rajput and a party veteran. The five-party rainbow alliance the BJP forged in Tamil Nadu includes the aggressive Vanniyar-caste lobby, the PMK. This party was involved in the modern Romeo & Juliet tragedy that shocked the world last year. (Ilavarasan, a dashing Dalit, and Divya, a charming Vanniyar, fell deeply in love. After they married, Ilavarasan was killed and the Dharmapuri constituency was split down the middle along caste lines.) Dalits today say they would vote by caste this time.

There is evidently a historical shift on the Hindutva front. Founded by Chitpavan Brahmins, the Sangh Parivar has been a Brahmin-led movement all along. This is the first time that the BJP is stepping down from the upper levels to accommodate Backwards in leadership positions. (In the 1990s UP, upper castes accepted Kalyan Singh, OBC, as the leader of a winning combination. But it seemed more of an experiment and did not last long.)

Now that the BJP is the vehicle of a Ghanchi caste (OBC) leader, is the shift from the Upper echelons a calculated move by Narendra Modi? The new combinations he is promoting are not entirely new; Mayawati had demonstrated the potential of “social engineering” between Dalits and Brahmins. It was of course an empty slogan, intended to benefit neither Dalits nor Brahmins but herself, but it worked for her in the caste-obsessed culture in which she operated. Is Modi trying similar coalitions with similar intentions? The best answer to that is another question. Moving the draft Constitution for approval in 1948, Dr Ambedkar asked: “In addition to our enemies in the form of Castes and Creeds, we are going to have many political parties with diverse and opposing Political Creeds. Will Indians place the country above their Creed or their Creed above the country?”

Tweet: Is #NarendraModi playing #Mayawati cards?Read the brilliant article from a brilliant author at: http://bdnarayankar20.blogspot.in/2014/03/is-narendra-modi-playing-mayawatis-cards.html …
#Chidambaram #MMJoshi

Southern Spices Could Prove Too Hot for the Congress Palate

Vinod Mathew writes

If Congress is seen stewing in self-inflicted misery, ahead of the polls, then a sample of this broth can be had from the typical dishes it has lined up in southern states. For the dilettante, all southern dishes may taste the same, but the difference between the Hyderabadi, Udupi, Chettinad and Malabari cuisines is marked. Thus, Congress is set to get a different taste by way of results in all the four states.

When Congress ensured there would be a UPA II at the Centre in 2009 by managing to return 206 MPs to the 15th Lok Sabha, 62 of those—30 per cent of the bench strength—came from the southern states and Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep. If punters are unwilling to take bets on the Congress crossing the 100-mark this time, there is a very valid reason.

Andhra Pradesh, that single-handedly sent 33 of those Congressmen to Lok Sabha last time, may not return enough MPs to ensure double-digit bench strength. The net gainer will not be BJP; the seats will be split largely between Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress in Seemandhra and TRS in Telangana. Sure, the BJP will pick up seats but only if it ties up with TDP.

That the die was well cast when Telangana was carved out leaving Seemandhra seething in anger against Congress is now history. Having spurned all chances of mending fences with Jagan, the gates have been thrown open for BJP to improve its showing in the coastal region and Rayalaseema but only if it aligns with TDP. Once the 25 seats in the region get carved up, Congress can but draw a blank. Telangana, with TRS breathing down its neck, can at best only divide the spoils down the middle, perhaps gain a marginal edge and hope for a double-digit finish for the Congress.

The situation is worse in Tamil Nadu where the party looks all set to do a no-show unless Puducherry spares it the blushes; this is against eight seats last time. Coming as a salve is DMK supremo M Karunanidhi’s acknowledgement that his party is ready to join forces with Congress, post poll. Specially so as the initial estimates about the AIADMK sweeping the LS polls are undergoing some revision at 20-25 seats out of 39, still a massive gain over the nine seats it won in 2009.

This is a bit of a strange situation for the Tamil Nadu electorate as for the first time it is pitched to be a five-cornered poll, with AIADMK, DMK, BJP, Left and Congress leading fronts with results likely to follow that order. Curiously, with CM J Jayalalithaa a potential ally for NDA, any impact of a Narendra Modi wave is likely to eat into AIADMK vote share, just as BJP’s local allies—PMK, MDMK and DMDK; all sworn enemies of Amma—are poised to become allies in the NDA. It should not surprise anyone if both the Congress and Left fare quite poorly.

In a state where there is a serious dearth of issues, and almost every party pushes a pro-Tamil agenda, the latest decision by India to abstain from voting against Sri Lanka in the UNHRC resolution on Tamil genocide will provide another stick padded with popular sentiment to beat Congress.

It’s in this context that one will have to closely watch the position of DMK’s risen son M K Stalin who also has his eyes riveted on the 2016 Assembly elections. Because, any alliance with Congress could turn out to be a liability for him as local satraps of Congress are viewed as NPAs by this wannabe CM.

Karnataka, with a history of voting in favour of the party that rules the state, could prove a face-saver for Congress if about a dozen candidates get elected. Making the situation more attractive is that the gain, from a paltry six seats last time, will come at the expense of BJP, whose 19 seats could get whittled down. This voting pattern, if it holds good, will not only moderate the Modi effect, but also counter the re-induction of erstwhile strongman BS Yeddyurappa and the Reddys of Bellary into the BJP fold. A tall order, but many in Karnataka believe 28 seats could get carved up in an even-steven manner between Congress and BJP at a dozen each, with the Deve Gowda-led JD(S) and others picking up the rest.

Moving over to Kerala, the pendulum keeps swinging, from what was a predominantly pro-LDF sentiment in mid-February to pro-UDF about a month later and now, a slight swing in the reverse direction. Even as CPI(M) strongman Pinarayi Vijayan claims it will be a repeat of 2004, where LDF got 18 of 20 seats, and CM Oommen Chandy and other Congress stalwarts claim that UDF will better its 2009 results of 16 seats, the reality would lie somewhere in between. Barring last-minute surprises—Kerala High Court’s criticism of the CM regarding the alleged involvement of his former gunman Salim Raj in a land grab case could set the tone—the score could read 11-12 in favour of UDF, plus one in Lakshadweep. Congress could end up losing a few seats from 13 in 2009.

If the UPA is looking a disgruntled lot, it has Congress to blame as it appears short of touching 100 seats, which would translate into a 50 per cent fall over its 2009 presence in Lok Sabha. The flip side is NDA can’t start counting the far-from-hatched chicken until the regional parties, which are set to be the resultant beneficiaries, gravitate towards it as the front-runners to form the next national government.

Clearly, this south-side recipe should in a broad sense hold true for an all-India menu though the Mughlai and shakahari dietary requirements of the north have traditionally not had a palate for a southern cuisine. Given the bold new face of India, where the youth speak the same kinda lingo in WhatsApp, etc, it remains to be seen if all that will translate into a similar voting pattern. Unlikely, as Bharat is a different ball game altogether.

Tag: Seemandhra, Jagan Reddy, Jayalalithaa

Tweet: Southern Spices Could Prove Too Hot for the #Cong Palate. Read at: http://bdnarayankar20.blogspot.in/2014/03/southern-spices-could-prove-too-hot-for.html … #Jagan #Telangana #Seemandhra #Jayalalitha #DMK

It's battle of novices in Bangalore Central

Bangalore, March 30 (PTI): Three new faces, including high-profile Aam Aadmi Party or AAP candidate and former Infosys Board member V Balakrishnan, are slugging it out in Bangalore central Lok Sabha constituency against incumbent P C Mohan of BJP.

Minorities hold considerable sway and that could tilt the scales in the poll outcome of Bangalore central, a constituency with a cosmopolitan character.

Carved out of Bangalore North and South Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 polls, the constituency has eight assembly segments with a mixture of upper and middle class voters.

While BJP has retained Mr Mohan, Congress has fielded its youth wing Chief Rizwan Arshad who is making his electoral debut after the party overruled the claim of former Railway Minister C K Jaffar Sharief, a seven-time MP.

Mr Arshad is said to have been handpicked by Rahul Gandhi and a miffed Mr Sharief has announced his resignation from Congress, cutting his more than six-decade long association with it.

Mr Sharief's exit is among the imponderables that could impact the prospects of the Congress candidate.

Mr Balakrishnan's entry has spiced up the scene, as he gets the taste of the rough and tumble of politics in the electoral battleground.

The other debutant is Nandini Alva, danseuse and wife of late former state minister Jeevraj Alva, who has jumped into the fray from the JDS. Alva is also the mother-in-law of Hindi actor Vivek Oberoi.

50-year old Mr Mohan made his parliamentary debut to the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009 after being an MLA from Chickpet constituency for two consecutive terms in 1999 and 2004.

Compared to Mr Mohan, all his opponents from the other three parties are having first brush with electoral politics.

35-year-old Mr Arshad is, however, relatively close to electoral politics compared to the other two, due to his association with Youth Congress. 

With a Masters in Philosophy, Mr Arshad has served in various positions of Youth Congress including National Secretary of Indian Youth Congress. He can bank on the support of three key ministers of Siddaramaiah government like Roshan Baig, K J George and Dinesh Gundurao, who are from Bangalore central.

With Mr Balakrishnan, Bala as he is popularly known, entering poll fray, Bangalore is witnessing two top ex-Infocians taking the plunge into electoral fray from the IT capital, other being Infosys Co-founder and UIDAI Chief Nandan Nilekani from Bangalore South constituency on a Congress ticket.

Mr Balakrishnan quit Infosys on December 31 and joined AAP the next day. He had joined Infosys in 1991 and later became its Chief Financial Officer and was also said to be a top contender for the post of Chief Executive Officer when he quit.

He has declared assets worth Rs. 190 crore, making him one of the richest candidates. Mr Nilekani has declared assets worth Rs. 7,700 crore.

Mr Balakrishnan is hoping that people's disenchantment with two principal players, Congress and BJP, would make them look towards AAP.

Tweet: Ex #Infosys man #Balakrishnan & 2 other novices try their luck for #BangaloreCentral #LokSabha seat Read at: http://bdnarayankar20.blogspot.in/2014/03/is-battle-of-novices-including.html …
#Sharief

435 candidates in fray; Cong hopes to replicate its assembly performance, BJP its 2009 LS show

        Bangalore, Mar 29 (PTI) A total of 435 candidates are in

the fray for the April 17 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka

which would witness a three-horse race, the principal fight

being between ruling Congress and BJP.

        Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda led JDS faced

embarassing moment on the last day for withdrawl today, as its

candidate Shivanand Nayak pulled out race citing financial

constraints.

        "There were 544 valid nominated candidates of which 109

candidates have withdrawn from all 28 constituencies. Now the

total number of contesting candidates is 435," Chief Electoral

Officer Anil Kumar Jha told reporters here.

        Of 435 contesting candidates, 23 are women, he said.

        He said Bangalore Central with 26 candidates has the

highest number of contestants and Gulbarga with eight the

least number of candidates. Uttara Kannada has nine

candidates.

        He said JDS candidate Shivanand Nayak has withdrawn from

Uttara Kannada, Purushottam Nayak (KJP) from Chitradurga and

Imtiaz Ahmed (JDU) from Tumkur.

        Congress is hoping to replicate its Assembly performance

and maximise gains. In the last Lok Sabha polls, it had won

six seats as against the then ruling BJP's 19. JDS had won

three.

        BJP is also going the whole hog to repeat its 2009 Lok

Sabha performance, banking heavily on "Modi wave".

        Giving account of seizures made, Jha said, "Today

afternoon we have seized Rs 50 lakh in Koppal town, Rs 3.4

lakh in Hassan and Rs 1.75 lakh in Dharwad," adding that Rs 50

lakh was the one-time highest seizure so far.

        He said 1,000 sarees have been seized in Bellary district

that valued up to Rs 6 lakh and another box of sarees in

Hiriyur taluk.

        Jha said 150 litres of liquor had been seized from

Bagalkote and 78 litres in Bellary district. FIR has been

filed in both cases.

        He said total liquor seized so far is 35,125 litres, which

values up to Rs 1.4 crore and total cash seized is about Rs

3.35 crore.

        Pointing that total number of Model Code of Conduct (MCC)

violations cases booked so far from all across the state is

628, Jha said maximum is from Belgaum with 124.

Tweet: 435 candidates in fray; #Cong hopes to replicate its assembly performance, #BJP its 2009 #LS show Read at: http://bdnarayankar20.blogspot.in/2014/03/435-candidates-in-fray-cong-hopes-to.html …
#DeveGowda