Shoe-hurling seems to be a routine affair to express angers against leaders.

Pawas Agrawal, an ex-BJP worker who hurled a slipper at Advani that he was forced to do this act because he was angry with the senior leader.

Agarwal has been arrested and is being questioned by the police.

Earlier, a retired school principal had thrown a shoe at Congress MP Navin Jindal in Kurukshetra.

Rajpal, a former teacher, hurled his shoe while he was addressing party workers.

In a similar incident, an agitated Dainik Jagran journalist Jarnail Singh threw a shoe at Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram during a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delh

After prolonged suspense over its nominees for the Capital’s seven Lok Sabha seats, The BJP leadership has reached an uneasy consensus on names for the seven parliamentary constituencies of the Capital, but with protests brewing, the party is keeping its cards close to its chest, and deferring a formal announcement.

The central election committee has “authorised” BJP president Rajnath Singh and senior leader L K Advani to decide on the candidatures in consultation with party general secretary Arun Jaitley.

According to sources, Vijay Goel has been shunted back to Chandni Chowk, while Janakpuri MLA Jagdish Mukhi has been asked to take over New Delhi, which Goel wanted.

Late Sahib Singh Verma’s son has been awarded the West Delhi seat – which the BJP is confident of winning. Two-time MLA Ramesh Biduri has also been rewarded with the South Delhi seat.

Northwest has been given to Meera Kanwaria. B L Sharma Prem could be given Northeast Delhi, while former president Dr Harshvardhan could be accommodated in East Delhi.

There might be a surprise element in East Delhi as former Amroha MP Chetan Chauhan has been contacted by Rajnath Singh. The former India opener has been active in Delhi cricket and the other contender is former Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan. Chauhan has won from Amroha twice and lives in East Delhi which has a sizeable vote from east UP and Poorvanchal.

Campaigning for the assembly elections in the Capital reached its peak here on Wednesday, with the electorate bombarded with over 80 rallies,big and small. And wherever public meetings were not allowed, roadshows were thrown in.

With just two days to go for the Delhi Assembly elections, campaigning reached a feverish pitch in the Capital on Wednesday with bigwigs of all major parties, including Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party and L.K. Advani and Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party, hitting the road to woo voters. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi took up cudgels on behalf of his party, addressing a public meeting at Dilshad Garden, part of the Seemapuri constituency.

“Koi na daftar der se jaye, Congress ne itne flyover banaye”, “Congress hi hai Metro layi, vote dal sab do badhai”, “Dilli mein vikaas ki aandhi,   Congress party-Sonia Gandhi”, “   Sheila ji ka yehi elaan, meri Dilli meri shaan”   . And the slogans go on. All created by the Congress as part of its online poll campaign for the assembly elections later this year. The slogans can be found on the website of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, which was launched on Wednesday.

According to DPCC chief J P Aggarwal, the website is the party’s way of connecting with workers and supporters. The party is also in the process of putting in place a complete database of mobile numbers and email addresses of active party workers and office bearers so that contact can be established within seconds at the click of a mouse or through sms. A database of phone numbers of 60,000 active workers is already with the DPCC.

The new website that opens with images of Congress leaders down the years, provides links to forms for those interested in joining the party or its brand new network – DPCC Supporter’s Circle. A feedback form is also in place.

Not to be left behind, the Delhi BJP is also gearing up for a hi-tech battle. The state party office is undergoing a makeover, complete with a brand new wireless tower. The tower will enable a network between the national BJP headquarters and the state office to begin with.

Similar towers have been set up at the national BJP headquarters at Ashok Road and a premise at Tughlaq Road being readied for L K Advani’s campaign.

Sources : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Important voices are being raised in favour of Rahul Gandhi as India’s next prime minister, as the ruling party looks to its family dynasty to fill a leadership vacuum as a general election approaches.

Close on the heels of Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel’s vote for Rahul Gandhi as the United Progressive Alliance’s prime minister-in-waiting came a resounding endorsement from senior Congress leader and human resource development minister Arjun Singh on Monday.l

“Why not?’’ he shot back in response to a query from the media. “He [Rahul] has all the qualities of his father [Rajiv Gandhi]. He is making sincere efforts to acquire all the information and knowledge that is required [for the top job].’’

The sudden clamour for Rahul Gandhi as the UPA’s prime ministerial candidate has caught Congress circles by surprise. A soft launch for the scion of the first family of Indian politics looks in danger of turning into a full-throated campaign to push him into a leadership role in the next general elections and pit him against the BJP’s PM-in-waiting,
L K Advani. A 39-year old versus an 81-year old. Youth versus experience.

Yet another senior Congress minister Pranab Mukherjee  on Tuesday came out in support of Rahul Gandhi being made the prime ministerial candidate in the next elections.

“Arjun Singh has done nothing wrong in suggesting that Rahul Gandhi be made the prime ministerial candidate,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here.

“Always the leadership goes to the youth. It is a universal truth,” he said when asked about Singh’s comments on projecting Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial face, an idea that drew immediate support from ally and chief minister M Karunanidhi.

Two years after he quit BJP openly criticising L K Advani, veteran Delhi leader Madan Lal Khurana was on Friday re-inducted into Bhartiya Janata Party.

The re-entry of the 71-year-old former Delhi Chief Minister assumes significance as it comes ahead of the Assembly elections to be held by November.

BJP President Rajnath Singh re-inducted Khurana after days of secret parleys. The move is expected to re-energise the party in Delhi as he has considerable following in the Punjabi community of the Capital.

“He (Khurana) has written a letter withdrawing his comments against the party and expressing regret over his remarks,” According to a party leader .

The party, however, has made no commitment on giving any post to the former Delhi BJP strongman.

Khurana, who was also former Governor of Rajasthan, had severely criticised Advani in April 2006 over the Kandahar hijack episode and asserted that he could not work with him.

He had taken objection to Advani’s remarks that the former Deputy Prime Minister had differed with the decision to release terrorists during the hijack crisis.

Interestingly, his re-entry comes at a time when the Kandahar issue has returned to haunt the BJP and Advani.

The three-day national executive of the BJP Minority Morcha beginning on 4 April in Hyderabad intends to work out a strategy to ensure that the Muslim community supports the BJP’s quest for power at the Centre under the leadership of its prime ministerial nominee, Mr L K Advani.

With its past efforts to woo Muslims not yielding 100 per cent results, the Bharatiya Janata Party is organising a three-day national executive of the BJP’s minority wing. With the Assembly elections and general elections lined up, the event is being seen as “let there be a new beginning” by the saffron party which is trying hard to present itself as a “minority friendly” party.

BJP minority cell president Shahnawaz Hussain said that the party will appeal to Muslims to “let us make a new beginning under Advani’s leadership”.

The political resolution to be adopted at the conclave will reach out to minorities, especially Muslims, asking them to forget the misunderstandings of the past and project the BJP’s prime ministerial face, Mr L.K. Advani, as a friendly leader. The party is also planning minority rallies across the country in the coming days in an attempt to reach out to the minority communities.

The political resolution will also seek to blame the Congress for the plight of Muslims in the country as brought out by the report of the Sachar Committee. The event will also see discussion on the candidature of more Muslim candidates by the party.

Giving details of the three-day meeting, the Minority Morcha chief, Mr Shahnawaz Hussain, said since the meeting would take place ahead of the next Lok Sabha election, efforts would be made to allay the fears of the Muslim community about the BJP and remove misunderstanding from their minds. He said the conclave would pass a resolution appealing to the Muslims to come forward and work under the leadership of Mr L K Advani for the coming Lok Sabha polls. “We will try to impress on the Muslim community the need to associate with Mr Advani who has a clean image. Let Muslims be part of the party’s preparation for the coming elections,” Mr Hussain said. He said the Morcha leaders would discuss ways to bring the minority community to the BJP fold.

There is a possibility that Lok Sabha elections could be held in January or February next year after the results of assembly polls in the BJP-ruled states Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are out, senior BJP leader L K Advani said on Monday.

“The Lok Sabha elections could be held in January or February next year by the UPA government after assessing the results of the assembly polls slated in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Chhattisgarh later this year,” Advani told a state party functionary meeting here. On the other hand, the Congress and Left parties feel they could face losses if they go for early Lok Sabha elections in the backdrop of nuclear deal with the USA, Advani claimed.

Lal Krishna Advani will be the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Advani’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads the NDA, had earlier announced its decision to project him as its prime ministerial candidate in the next general elections, days before Gujarat went to polls last month.

Close associates of Advani have heaved a sigh of relief after the NDA constituents gave their seal of approval to the BJP’s plans. His associates had been sceptical about whether Advani, who is seen as a Hindu hardliner, would be acceptable to the BJP’s NDA partners.

A resolution adopted at the meeting of NDA leaders, which also included chief ministers of opposition ruled states, however, stopped short of declaring Advani as the prime ministerial candidate. The resolution moved by its convener and former defence minister, George Fernandes also decided to contest the next Lok Sabha elections on the common “national agenda of governance”, thereby leaving contentious issues like abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, adopting uniform civil code and the construction of Ram Mandir at the site of demolished Babri Masjid out of poll agenda.

The meeting set to rest speculation on election of a new chairman, as the resolution said the NDA shall continue “to seek the guidance of its chairman and former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpaye and former defence minister George Fernandes.” Fernandes was himself actively involved in the conclave held at Advani’s residence and hence this should end all talks of the NDA adopting a new convener, Sushma added. She said the meeting did not discuss any plan to persuade other parties to join the NDA but everyone laid stress on its expansion.