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JANUARY 14
Sonia begins to assert herself
A day after she kicked off the Congress election campaign, Sonia Gandhi began showing signs that she is in full command of the party. On Monday, she released a signed statement in which she indirectly attacked party president Sitaram Kesri.
Advantage Advani
'Hindutva will be alive and potent as long as pseudo-secularists
will it to be -- it is up to them. Instability, corruption and the
fall in ethical standards are the issues plaguing India today --
and those are the ones we will embrace.' L K Advani tells Varsha Bhosle.
'Congressmen may wait on Sonia at will, but time and events won't'
She impressed the audience, though the crowd itself was not impressive -- but
how far can her maiden political speech at Sriperumpudur take Sonia Gandhi?
I have no intention of taking over the Congress leadership: Sonia
"I want to make it clear that I have no problem with the Congress president and I have no intention of taking over the leadership of the Congress party," Sonia Gandhi told Star News, in her first-ever television interview.
'Sonia is simply not seen as a foreigner'
'... or as an Italian; the notion being that the daughter-in-law is part of the husband's family and country. In this regard, there is absolutely no trace of xenophobia against her. For many, she is like a Mother to them!' The Sonia on the Stump Chat.
Advani to contest from Gandhinagar
Vajpayee will seek re-election from Lucknow, but Banwarilal Purohit is denied a seat. The BJP releases its first list of 202 candidates.
Gujral yields to pressure, won't campaign with Akalis
The prime minister gave an assurance to the UF's core committee that he will not share any political platform with the Akali Dal during electioneering in Jalandhar.
Fernandes will not join BJP govt due to AIADMK
There could be no compromise on corruption at any level, the Samata Party leader said.
Tripura CPI-M forces veterans to retire
In an unprecedented development, all the Marxist stalwarts in Tripura will remain out of the poll battle.
When India goes to vote
A ready reckoner to the election schedule.
CBI may land Deve Gowda, Ibrahim in trouble
The agency's war against a witness who turned hostile in the the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs bribery case may spell trouble for former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Union Civil Aviation C M Ibrahim and former CBI director Joginder Singh.
Andhra Pradesh: Naidu 'breaks rules' to bring 'criminal' into Telugu Desam
Bihar: 4 gunned down near Darbhanga
Bihar: Cold wave continues
Jammu and Kashmir: 2 injured in Pak fire
Kerala: Revamped cashew procurement plan flies into big flak
Maharashtra: BJP, VHP criticise Thackeray's proposal
•Pay Rs 0, or else...
Prabhakar Joglekar of Pune is in a fix. He has to pay his telephone bill.
JANUARY 11-12
Sonia launches campaign
Sonia Gandhi today asked the nation to "vote the Congress" and save India from those who "brutalised" it in the name of religion. It was a campaign launched with a difference. No political party was named, nor any leader called names. The 'brutalisation' reference was the farthest that she went in making an indirect
reference to the BJP.
Priyanka steals the show
Sonia did not wear a happy expression. She looked
uncomfortable and ill at ease. Priyanka, in contrast, seemed to be enjoying
the adulation, and the crowds. Far more spontaneous, she waved
at the end and smiled away.
'Sonia will be an instant hit'
For all the euphoria the rally created in Congress circles -- the message had yet to reach the masses. The organisers had obviously done a poor job.
RSS chief lashes at Congress, Sonia
Addressing a RSS mahashibir in Nagpur on Sunday, Professor Rajendra Singh said Sonia Gandhi's entry into politics had betrayed the Congress's "helplessness." "It is a pity," he said, that the 112-year-old party could not
find an Indian to bail it out of trouble.
JD will field 150 candidates
Prime Minister I K Gujral features in the party's first list of candidates. Despite the opposition by some United Front constituents, he will contest the general election from Jalandhar.
BJP, Samata Party sign electoral pact in Bihar
Samata Party spokesman Digvijay Singh said his party would field
candidates from the 22 seats it had contested in 1996. The BJP would contest the 32 other constituencies in the state.
Congress finds candidates tough going
The Congress leadership fears the party's inability to iron out seat adjustments with its allies in different states, squabbles between potential candidates and Sonia's involvement in distribution of tickets will considerably delay the selection of candidates.
UF unhappy as CPI-M woos Congress
Adding to the confusion is CPI-M general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet's statement that the UF would seek Congress support to form a government at the Centre after the poll.
'The BJP's new-found secularism is a reckless exercise to hoodwink the people'
Congress Working Committee member Pranab Mukherjee blasts the saffron party and the United Front, in an exclusive interview.
'Democracy can only survive if voting takes place on the basis of public issues'
Medha Patkar on the issues that confront the candidate and the electorate.
To survey or not to survey
'There is no evidence,' says pollster Dr N Bhaskara Rao, 'that pre-poll surveys have made a qualitative difference in the poll-eve scene in terms of the character of the campaign or the process of candidate selection.
Pre-poll surveys also have not earned a reputation for influencing
agenda-setting, nor is there any evidence that any political party
has benefited from such surveys.'
AIADMK alliance runs into rough weather
"Though no one expected the talks to be as easy as the media might have expected, there is some hard bargaining to do," confides an AIADMK source. According to him, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Marumalarchi DMK seem to be perched on a high pedestal, lately, "though an agreeable solution will be found in time."
RJD ministers resign from UF
With the resignation of Kanti Singh, Jai Narain
Prasad Nishad and Raghuvansh Prasad
Singh, the RJD's ties with the UF have been formally severed.
Bihar: CPI-ML kills nine Ranvir Sena activists
Bihar: Going gets tough for UF due to SP-JD tussle
Karnataka: Hegde ties up with BJP
JANUARY 10
BJP's ambitious plan to reverse UF's economic policy
If it comes to power, almost 60 per cent of the allocations would be in the rural sector. Not only the agriculture sector but also the development of infrastructure would be targeted so that the migration from villages to cities could be checked.
'Without power, Laloo has gone mad'
Union Railways Minister Ram Vilas Paswan hits out at the Bihar leader.
Congress denies Sonia-Kesri loyalists's clash
The rift seems to have been fuelled by Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav's statement that Sonia should not be in the prime ministerial race.
Kesri may give ticket to Rao
This clear climbdown in the Congress president's policy of denying tickets to such tainted leaders seems to stem from his fears regarding the Sonia Gandhi juggernaut.
AIADMK convention gives Jayalalitha a boost
There is no denying that the AIADMK-led alliance could gain electorally from the conference, though how Jayalalitha's party will gain from its allies remains to be seen. The AIADMK does not really require the votes of its allies -- not that any of them are strong enough -- in constituencies where it has a winning edge against the DMK-TMC combine.
BJP will bring PM under Lok Pal
Atal Bihari Vajpayee also reiterates that his party will protect the minorities's interests.
Mulayam unveils prime ministerial ambition
The Samajwadi Party president said he would be in the prime ministerial race if his party manages to secure 70 seats in the coming Lok Sabha election.
'Those children could have been saved if a doctor had been on duty'
One patient per bed, one bed per patient -- that could well be the norm in hospitals worldwide, but in the Kashmir valley, with just one children's hospital to boast of, such norms have long since been thrown to the wind.
Militancy falls to an eight-year low in Kashmir
There was a 30 per cent decline in civilian deaths as compared to the 1996 figures -- against 1,336 killings, 1997 witnessed only 993, of which 186 were killed after being abducted. In all 448 civilians were abducted by militants during 1997; in 1996, the figure was 666.
Andhra Pradesh: Women top suicide list
Delhi: 44 injured in ITO
blast
Maharashtra: Sena announces first list of
LS nominees
Maharashtra: Sena to contest 136 seats
Punjab: Gujral will be elected unopposed from Jalandhar: Badal
Punjab: High court notices to Brar, Bhattal
•Vajpayee uses a cow to get Laloo's goat
Apparently, Vajpayee's cow was no ordinary cow.
It was educated, it read newspapers. And so one fine day it spotted an item which sent it into galloping panic. Oh god, it was going to be arrested shortly! What to do?
JANUARY 9
India on road to H-bomb?
The latest issue of Jane's Intelligence Review has reported that the Indian atomic energy sector has taken on the production of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen whose main application is in fashioning a hydrogen bomb.
Mayhem expected in six states during poll
Violence and the breakdown of law and order is expected in as many as six states --- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir -- when India goes to the polls from February 16, according to initial intelligence reports filed with the Union home ministry.
Priyanka to accompany Sonia during campaign
It is, however, not known whether she will campaign for the Congress.
Left-UF economic contradictions come to the fore
With an agenda diametrically opposed to that of their finance minister, the Left parties would have a tough time convincing the electorate of how serious they are about their common manifesto.
Gujral in dilemma over Jalandhar seat
The prime minister's political future appears to be at stake following indications that the UF leadership would forbid his contest from Jalandhar with the Akali Dal support.
Storm over new Chief Justice ends
The controversy over the appointment of the next Chief Justice of India has ended with Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi's elevation to the top job.
All are happy in Kerala 'cos Sonia is campaigning
The Congress is happy, the LDF is happy, and so is the BJP. But for different reasons.
1997, a good year for Indian science
PSLV, a woman in space, drug for hepatitis-B, liver and bilateral lung transplants and a victory against the patenting of turmeric were the high points of Indian science.
Kashmiri pandits's world convention in New Delhi
On January 30 and 31 they will meet to deliberate on their future course of action.
'Taliban massacres 600 civilians'
The opponents of Afghanistan's hardline Taliban army say the fundamentalist troops massacred at least 600 civilians in northwestern Faryab province.
Andhra Pradesh: Rs 8 million worth crowns presented to Tirumala temple
Karnataka: Congress cold shoulders Hegde
Maharashtra: Kalmadi forms new party
Kerala: Raid on Jacob's houses
JANUARY 8
Promises, promises
Stability, secularism, the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi and the need to embark on
a second phase of economic liberalisation will be the issues that the Congress party will project in its election manifesto.
Sonia to launch her campaign on Jan 11
Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia will begin her nationwide campaign for the Congress at Sriperumbudur where her husband was assassinated six-and-a-half years ago.
Constituency-wise poll schedule announced
Except Jammu and Kashmir, the general pattern is that a state
having 26 or less Lok Sabha constituencies will have a single-day
polling, while states with more than 26 seats will go in for a two-phase poll.
Gujral should not contest from Jalandhar: Mulayam
Union Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today came out openly against Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral contesting the Lok Sabha election from Jalandhar with the Akali Dal support.
'Sonia's an Indian and has every right to contest the election'
'Mrs Sonia Gandhi belongs to a family who never lets his/her mind known until and unless the family takes a decision. The family always takes the right decision at the right time.' R K Dhawan tells The Rediff Chat.
UF move sparks speculation on ties with Congress
The United Front's decision to leave 28 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra for secular parties has triggered rumours that the combine has reached a tacit understanding with the Congress.
New Pak president may trigger fundamentalist upsurge
The election of Pakistan's most conservative president in a decade is the latest sign of the strengthening influence of religious fundamentalism in this Muslim country.
ISI planning blasts all over north India during poll time: JK police chief
Eliminating VIPs and explosions on trains, buses and other crowded places
are on the ISI agenda. Expectedly, top among the targeted cities is New Delhi.
Delhi: SC okays creation of pollution control authority
Goa: Alemao refuses to stand 'united'
Gujarat: RJP to contest 100 seats
Jammu and Kashmir: APHC to boycott polls
Tamil Nadu: DMK-TMC seat-sharing pact almost ready
JANUARY 7
Congress will not take action against party rebels
In an effort to create a semblance of unity within the party, the Congress leadership has decided to withdraw action against the 40-odd members of Parliament who hobnobbed with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
To defeat the BJP, Communists will go soft on Congress
Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishan
Singh Surjeet told his party's Kerala conference in Palakkad
on Friday that the BJP is the bigger enemy for the Left parties.
Wherever the United Front is not strong enough to take on the
BJP directly, Surjeet said, the Communists would work to get BJP
candidates defeated.
Seat-sharing exercises yet to take shape in Tamil Nadu
For her part, Jayalalitha is fighting her life's battle. If she
cannot stage a political comeback in the full sense of the
term, she at least wants to be seen as a political force
to reckon with in state politics.
No change in poll schedule: Election Commission
The EC has not taken a decision on the counting dates so far.
New front vows to back Congress
''Our principal aim is to see that the BJP does not get to the 190 mark it secured in the eleventh Lok Sabha,'' says Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Kanshi Ram, who launched the alternative secular front along with Rashtriya Janata Dal President Laloo Prasad Yadav.
Laloo puts UF leaders in a tizzy
The RJD chief is deriving much pleasure in pulling away Union Textiles
Minister R L Jalappa from the UF.
11 new faces in Left list for Bengal
West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu does not find a place in the roster.
No censorship on poll surveys: Press Council
But newspapers should adhere to certain guidelines to avoid political parties from using the media to
influence the poll outcome.
High court issues show causes to navy, army and air chiefs
As also to the defence and finance ministries. About the wage
disparity which the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations have
created among officials of the armed forces.
Yeltsin's Delhi visit put off
The Russian president won't be coming in January -- his visit has been put off to a 'later date.'
Light combat aircraft to be flight-tested by year-end
Sophisticated avionics account for more than half the cost of the aircraft, claims DRDO officials.
Nepal steps up AIDS-awareness campaign
In this new battle, HIV-positive people have lately found a powerful ally -- the government. Last month, the ministry of health and ministry of women and social welfare announced a comprehensive set of programmes to be implemented in schools for HIV/AIDS education.
Bangla forces on red alert following ULFA threat
Paresh Barua demands that Anup Jetia and other militants not be extradited to India
Goa: Sonia to campaign in Panaji
Manipur: Four killed as ultras clash
Meghalaya:Small quake hits Shillong
Punjab:K P S Gill's conviction upheld
Uttar Pradesh: 48 killed in UP train mishap
•This is how NSUI delegates 'take India into the 21st century...'
They came, they saw, and they went mad. So they jeered, they leered, and they eveteased.
JANUARY 6
Smoking Gun
''Bofors is once again on the national agenda
because of Sonia's entry into politics,'' a United Front leader told Rediff On The NeT. The Quattrocchi factor is bound to be highlighted during the election campaign when Sonia addresses nearly 100 rallies in a 20-day tour across the country.
Sonia should not contest poll says Laloo
In a significant development, the former Bihar chief minister came out on Monday against the popular demand in the Congress that Sonia Gandhi be made the prime
ministerial candidate and said she should confine herself to campaigning for the party to avoid controversies.
'Kesri wants Sonia to know who the real boss is'
Apprehensive of Sonia's growing influence, the Congress chief has asserted
his authority by declaring the names of the candidates for three parliamentary constituencies
in Delhi.
BJP will not deviate from secularism 'come what may'
The party has appealed to Muslims not to view it through the "coloured glass" of its adversaries and pledged that it is committed to secularism in the
true sense as enshrined in the Constitution.
Samata Party asks BJP to stop playing big brother
In yet another instance of the emerging strains in the Bharatiya Janata Party's relations with its poll allies, Samata Party general secretary Jaya Jaitley told Rediff On The NeT that the BJP should not take its poll partners for granted.
India's first rural cancer hospital being set up in Gurgaon
Donated money will be spent on drugs, not on five-star facilities, says Dr S S Yadav, chairman of the proposed establishment, who also has plans to set up Asia's biggest trauma centre.
Dalai Lama to hold talks with Chinese for Tibet's freedom
He said the Tibetans would settle for an autonomous state and
would not press for separate nationhood.
Gujarat: Chief Minister Dilip Parikh resigns
Jammu & Kashmir: A year of promises unkept
Uttar Pradesh: No bias against upper castes in ticket distribution: Mayawati
•And Sonia beeeamed!
Madame moved away. While the journos stood rooted, their dreams
of front page lead and instant promotion fading with her...
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