Indian Elections -I

Just posting some articles on the Indian elections which I found interesting

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/61cdbcda-33ad-11de-8f1b-00144feabdc0.html

(An interview with Raj Thakeray)
"Raj Thackeray: I do not think anything should be given for free. Everything has a price attached to it. And also people do not want it for free. People just want these things to be reliable. If electricity is provided on a regular basis without load shedding, they will be willing to pay for it. In the last 10 years, we [Maharashtra State] have not been able to deliver one megawatt of [new capacity in] electricity. And they are promising to deliver it for free. I don’t think anything needs to be given for free. And I am not talking only of Maharashtra but of the whole world."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lucknow/Communities-rise-against-poll-propaganda/articleshow/4461438.cms

"As candidates roped in all their resources to muster support on the last day of the election campaigning on Tuesday in Lucknow, BSP candidate Akhikesh Das's blitzkrieg on caste, religious and regional lines appeared to be backfiring."

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090425/jsp/nation/story_10873681.jsp

"When a journalist pressed on and asked her to respond to ADMK leader Jayalalithaa asking her to protest against the DMK position, Priyanka artfully dodged it: “Oh, but these are political issues, and I do not want to comment on them, I am not in politics.”
Are we to believe, then, that all she has been holding forth on during her extended outing for “my mother and brother” have been positions not even remotely political?
And for someone who professes no political interest beyond the two family seats, Priyanka has a hyperactive publicity machine backing her. Each speech of hers is emailed to a select, though huge, media list and at the end of each campaign day, dozens of photographs of her on the trail are processed and sent out.
After Amethi voted on Thursday, Priyanka has shifted next door to Rae Bareli where her mother is in the fray. We haven’t heard the last from her on this campaign yet. Congress-baiters, beware."

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1251570

"The best apology one can expect from those in power is a gradual shift in their political emphasis. Both Advani and Modi have shifted their politics away from pure Hindutva. Both are talking development. It is the secular mafia that keeps pushing them back into their communal shells by refusing to forget or forgive. They have no right to demand an apology from anybody."

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1251282

"Even if all the "communal" remarks attributed to Varun Gandhi are indeed correct,the refusal of the Congress-led UPA government to revoke the prosecution of Varun Gandhi under the draconian National Security Act invoked by the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh is a clear sign of political vendetta. This is not to suggest that if he is found guilty of making inflammatory speeches against any community, he should be allowed to go scot-free. But his arrest under a law enacted ostensibly for the preventive detention of those suspected of undermining the security and safety of the Indian State, amounts to using an AK-47 to kill a cat because it used its paws to scratch someone."

http://election.rediff.com/column/2009/apr/29/loksabhapolls-the-cbi-is-a-habitual-offender.htm

"The CBI should be dubbed a habitual offender if one looks at the politically important cases that the agency has handled and mishandled over the years."

http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/2009/04/nation-outraged-over-2611-terrorist.html

"In a shocking development today, Kasab took the entire country for granted and sought facilities like Urdu newspaper, perfumes and flavoured toothpaste. He also demanded fresh air and asked to be allowed to stroll on the verandah of his cell in the jail. Kasab made it clear that he wanted special treatment.Special Judge ML Tahilyani has adjourned the 26/11 trial till May 2. "Will he be given special treatment for the special work he did in Mumbai?", asks Bank Official Suresh Raut in Mumbai."