Sonia Gandhi lashes out at AAP

For the first time, Congress president Sonia Gandhi mounted an attack on Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday at a rally in New Delhi’s Ajmal Khan Park stating that a few people ‘making tall claims ran away in few days’. She also singled out BJP for preaching ‘politics of hatred and communalism’ and making big ‘false promises’.

Addressing a well attended rally, she lashed out at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. Without naming Kejriwal she said, “A few people came with tall claims and ran away in few days. They do not know that running a government is not a child’s job.” 

The Congress that lost its Delhi government to emergence of AAP is hoping not to perform as bad in the
Lok Sabha elections. Congress had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats during the 2009 elections.

Congress workers responded enthusiastically to her barbs on AAP. Slogans of Sonia Gandhi zindabad and Congress zindabad followed.   

Highlighting the achievements of Hakim Ajmal Khan, a freedom fighter, on whose honour the park has been named, the UPA chairperson said that Khan has been always symbol of unity between two communities but a few people (BJP) are teaching ‘ideology of fanaticism’. She said election is fight between two different ideologies.  “Congress ideology teaches love and equality and we always have goodwill for opposition parties but out there some are teaching fanaticism and how to create conflict between two communities,” she said.

In a veiled attack on the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, Gandhi said: “I am in politics to take the tradition of the Congress party forward. For me it is more important to protect the Ganga-Jamuni Tahzeeb than going after power. But there are certain individual and organisations who want to take the country into the direction of darkness and doom. But I have faith in the judgment of people and even this time you won't make a mistake in taking the right direction and support the Congress party.”
Gandhi described the saffron party as a “divisive force” and said that they will ‘ruin the country’.

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting from the holy city of Varanasi, largely known for its Ganga-Jamuni Tahzeeb – which largely describes the sense of brotherhood between different religions.

The Congress president also slammed BJP for “raising the pitch over the issue of nationalism and patriotism”. She questioned the tall claims of BJP and AAP on nationalism.  “BJP and others (AAP) can only give speeches of nationalism and patriotism and at public rallies but the truth is patriotism flows in the veins of Congress,” she roared.

She said that if they want to learn nationalism they should learn from Congress.  “If they want to learn, they should learn from Congress people who scarified their lives. They should learn from soldiers fighting for the country of a common man working day and night to earn food,” she roared.  

She clarified the people that running a government or being in power is not an important issue for Congress but making the ‘countrymen proud of being Indian is most important’.  “I am proud that people of India raise their head across the world with great pride,” she said.

She also highlighted the Congress has made several policies of poor and needy under leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “I am proud to bring laws where street vendors don’t have to shell out money to police and sanitation workers will not be employed on contract basis anymore. Had the opposition not stalled parliament proceedings we could have brought many such laws,” she said.   

She sought the support of the Delhiites stating that people in the capital “have always made the right choice and would once again vote in favour of her party nominees”.

Interestingly, she was sharing dais with New Delhi parliamentary candidate Ajay Maken, Delhi Congress leader Arvinder Singh Lovely and Shakeel Ahmad and rest of the leaders -- Sandeep Dikshit, Kapil Sibal, Mahabal  Mishra, Ramesh Kumar and Krishna Tirath were below the dais and they only after Gandhi ended her speech.  

Gandhi arrived an hour and a half behind schedule at 5.30 p.m and during that time the party leaders Sandeep Dikshit, Ajay Maken, Shakeel Ahmad, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Ramesh Kumar had engrossed the crowd with their speeches.

The rally was the first by a top Congress leader after Indira Gandhi held a rally in 1979 at the same venue, however, there was mix response from the people. 
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Theater, politicians and the artistes...

Polls are a theater and politicians the artistes. This trueism has caught the fancy of some youth, deeply into theater and entertainment, in the national capital and they have made the elections the stage to showcase their talent.

Charlie (uses only his first name), a 42-year-old, is one of them and he had been busy reading up his dialogues for the roadside play that his troupe has been enacting this poll season.

At the DDA park on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, Charlie and his group of friends from the Chirag Theatre Group were doing their rehearsal for a show they would be putting up ahead of a poll campaign by the Bharatiya Janatar Party candidate Harsha Vardhan in Chandni Chowk later.

Charlie is deeply immersed in a bit of paper in his hand that has his dialogues on it. Staring at his fellow artiste, Adil Sheikh, Charlie tell him: "Iss Desh Ka Kya Boora Haal Ho Rakka Hai."

With a concern on his expressive face, Adil replied back: "Sab Ko Azma Kar Dekh Liya. Har Koi Desh Ko Loot Liya."

They were belting out the lines from their roadside skit. But Charlie has forgotten his line and quickly refers back to his piece of paper in an awkward manner. And that is enough from the entire group of 10 youngsters to break into a hearty laugh over Charlie's predicament.

The group has been having fun over the past month, joining the poll campaign of BJP candidates from the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital. But that alone is not the reason for their enthusiasm. Poll time only means moolah for them.

"I have been doing these acts for the last 15 years now. and our group has been active in theater circuit in the national capital. But the polls season is good time for us to both show our talent at roadside skit that carries an election message and also to earn a quick buck," says Charlie.

The Chirag Theater Group has been "hired on contract" by BJP to perform street plays across the city.

Charile, who passed out of Kirori Mal College 15 years ago, got involved in theater through the Dramatics Society of his college.

"Almost all theater artists, especially youth, consider election time as earn-while-you-learn time. On an average, we get Rs 2,000 per street play and in a single day, we manage to do seven shows,” says Adil.

In the last ten days of campaigning for the polls on April 10, the group expects to make a few laksh of rupees as earnings from political parties this time around.

Apart from BJP, its rivals -- AAP and Congress -- too have roped in hundreds of such artistes from across the country and theater colleges for campaigning. 

“We have selected around 150 such artists from across the country, including National School of Drama and various other drama colleges to perform street plays,” BJP national general secretary Vani Tripathi, who is part of a party committee for such methods of campaigning, told The Sunday Standard.

She explained that street plays, one of the traditional method of campaigning, would be used a lot in the election this time around.

 

“It will kick-start from April 1 in Delhi and six groups would perform five skits, each running for eighteen minutes,” says Tripathi.

The artists have also been asked to interact with people for ten minutes after the show.

Similarly, AAP has already started holding street plays and aggressively promoting the party and their candidates. 

“Through the street plays people are being informed about the party and its agenda and there are several groups holding such political satires at various locations,” AAP's national spokesperson Deepak Vajpayee says.

Interestingly, Asmita Theatre Group, which was associated with anti-corruption movement and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, has claimed that they have not been promoting AAP or any political parties this election season.

“From the anti-corruption movement to Nirbhaya brutal gang rape protest we have always been upfront and performed several street plays. But we generally don’t perform for any political parties,” Ashmita's director Arvind Gaur says.

This time, the Congress too is not behind. Streets plays have been scheduled for last phase of campaigning ahead of the elections. “The plays are about the various development projects carried by the Congress government,” Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit says. 

Leave aside the political parties, the election commission has also roped in various theater groups to perform street plays under voter awareness programme.

The election commission is reaching out to the people so that they can exercise their vote and play an active role in deciding the fate of the seven high-profile Parliamentary seats in the forthcoming election.

“We want voters to come in hordes and take part in the biggest electoral process. We do not want people from any region to to be left behind or feel alienated?” Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev informs.

He says that the EC started organising awareness programmes through 'nukkad nataks' across the city. This time, the special focus is on voters in the national capital with origins in South and North East states.

The move is aimed at increasing the voting percentage in the capital and also to ensure that the people from other regions living in the capital do not feel left out, he adds.

To that end, they have roped in Tollywood singers to send the message across in Delhi's localities inhabited by people from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

"The nukkad natak will be performed in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, and in Bengali and Northeastern states' languages. Some NGOs and various active theater groups are lending a helping hand in the awareness campaigns,” Dev notes.

People want BJP at centre but why

Undoubtedly it seems that wave of Bhartiya Janta Party has spread across the national capital in this upcoming Lok Sabha polls. People at chaupals, tea shops, cigarette shops, bus stands and at various liquor shops, where they drink is illegally, are chatting, arguing and gossiping about the party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

There is talk on the streets and this can’t be disputed. In last 20 days, I spoke to around 1000 people irrespective of cast and class and interestingly most of them were talking of BJP or Aam Aadmi Party. There are many who have not yet decided for whom they would cast their vote -- AAP and BJP. 

But one things is clear. People in large number are going to cast their votes this election.

Why? Thanks to two small uprisings in the country in last three years.

One have appreciate that the people of all age group have started talking about election and they are keen to cast their votes. And for that, one has to give credit to AAP founder Arvind Kejriwal and his anti-corruption movement across the country and secondly the uprising after Nribhaya brutal gang rape and murder in Delhi that shook the entire nation. 

Kejriwal’s anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare left the countrymen to ponder. From Anna’s arrest to his thirteen-day fast in August 2011, it was like people from across the country were talking about corruption. To be honest, people were fed up of rising prices of essential commodities and secondly the arrogance of the ruling people and their whims and fancies. Witnessed to see the entire movement, I was surprised to watch the anger people vented out against the government.  

The government has to come to Anna’s feet to pass the Lokpal Bill. Protest across the country were witnessed and people thronged to various places to register anger against the government and its policy they felt were only meant for handful of selected VIPs. The movement gave strength to common people’s voice and people came out in lakhs.  One has to wonder, more than two lakhs people thronged to India Gate for candle march to show their angst against the lawmakers.

And finally after six months when the government fails to pass the citizen's ombudsman bill, protest continued. When the government showed it arrogance, people behind anti-corruption movement decided to take part in politics and clean the system.

Second reason was the deteriorating law and order condition and bureaucrats and police’s blind eye towards the people’s problems. 

I can’t forget those winter’s chilling days and night when Nirbhaya incident happened. The first day, I felt sorry as I thought I missed the story. But I realized, none of the news persons reported the matter.

Second day, I was in and outside Vasant Vihar police station and various other police stations in south Delhi. I was continuously calling up my all the sources to know about the investigation. The cops cracked the case in the afternoon. 

Being in Delhi, I was away from home for almost 13 days, staying on street and eating whenever and whatever and managing to steal an hour or two to return home to freshen up. Continuously covering every glimpse of the issue and uprising at Raisina Hill of Lutyens' Delhi in New Delhi, -- housing India's most important government buildings, including Rashtrapati Bhavan – that took place two years ago.

The police using baton to disperse the demonstrators after they pelted stones and within half an hour managing to get hold of Raisina Hill, it was momentous and thrilling for everyone. There were known faces from both sides – police and protestors.

Second day, the similar uprising at India Gate and thereafter police blocking all the roads leading India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan. One can imagine the anger among the people.

These incidents awaken the society and people at least in Delhi and metro cities. Incidents of rape did not stop, however, police and bureaucrats way to dealing with such cases changed in Delhi.

Laws were amended and circular and standing orders were issued, women were heard everywhere. 

These two movements gave birth to a new party AAP. People started expecting unexpected from them. AAP went for assembly polls in Delhi and people in power mocked and taunted at them. They kept quiet and were silently working. 

December 8, 2014, the results were announced and AAP grabbed 28 seats in 70 assembly seats and BJP got 32. Kejriwal formed government. On insistence of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Congress leaders gave support to Kejriwal to form a government. He became chief minister after taking oath at Ram Lila Ground.

All the political parties got scared as Kejriwal started taking bold steps and strengthening various governance mechanisms in Delhi. Started fulfilling what he made promises to people. Reduced electricity and water prices. But when his two ministers -- Somnath Bharti and Rakhi Birla -- conducted mid-night raids, it became an embarrassment situation for the party. The midnight raid turned into a major blow for AAP.

Kejriwal went against Delhi Police and sat on two-day dharna to get five cops suspended and it went against it. Criticism started. Media too started giving it views against him and his party. Inexperienced, he and his party wanted to pass Lokpal Bill in Delhi but Congress and BJP did not supported.

He and his government resigned.

People felt cheated and other political parties started taking his resignation as opportunity and began mass level campaigning against him and his party members. 

In the meantime, Election Commission of India announced Lok Sabha election dates. AAP decided to go for Lok Sabha polls across the country.

Two big parties -- Congress and BJP -- were shocked to hear. AAP which fought election for the first time in Delhi started making preparations for world largest democratic fight. 

While BJP projected Narendra Modi, allegedly accused of Gujarat riots, as prime ministerial candidate and started nationwide campaign, Congress started fighting anti-incumbency wave against under Rahul Gandhi leadership.

Interestingly both the parties started slamming AAP and terming Kejriwal as runaway politician. 

Udit Raj, BJP’s North West Delhi Parliamentary Constituency candidate said that AAP has cheated the people of Delhi.

People of Delhi were fed up with the 15-year misrule of the Congress party and had inadvertently chosen AAP as an alternative. Even though BJP won 32 seats in the recent assembly elections, yet it did not form government. 

Arvind Kejriwal swore by his children that he would not take the support of any party but finally he formed the government with the support of the Congress Party. He lost his balance of mind due to his over-ambitious and selfish nature as a result of which he quit the post of Chief Minister in the fond hope of becoming Prime Minister. 

Even though Lieutenant Governor's post is non-political yet the selection is made on political considerations.  When the Lieutenant Governor has been selected by the Congress Party, it is obvious that the administration will be run on the guidelines of the party.

The 49-day AAP Government could fulfill its promises in just 49 minutes. Abolition of contract labour in the Safai work and regularization of Safai workers, temporary drivers, conductors, nurses and doctors could all be done by an administrative order.

Kejriwal is expert in mental corruption and telling lies and now his other leaders are also deeply involved in economic corruption like the AAP candidate from the North-West Delhi Parliamentary Constituency , Rakhi Birla.

BJP shall win all the seven Delhi Parliamentary seats, get a majority of 272 seats in the Parliament and Narendra Modi will become the Prime Minister.

Shout Udit Raj, Harsh Vardhan and other BJP leaders.

The congress is also not behind.

Kejriwal as a big liar as he had betrayed the people of Delhi and the Muslims, and that was the reason people have started leaving the Aam Aadmi Party.

J P Aggarwal said Kejriwal, by dividing the Muslim votes, was trying to fulfil the RSS and BJP agenda, not only in Delhi, but also in the whole country, and because of that it was necessary that Muslims, showing unity, should vote for a democratic party like the Congress.

He appealed to the Muslims of Delhi that they should not come under the trap of RSS agent Kejriwal.

Arvinder Singh and Mukesh Sharma said the reverse count of the AAP had begun in Delhi, and hoped that in the coming days, a large number of AAP workers would join the Congress Party.

He said the congress will not only put up an improved performance in the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, but will also produce exciting results. He said the poor and the middle class was now looking upto the Congress Party.

Subhash Chopra said the BJP was insulting the Muslims through its sweeping statements and it was also trying to disturb the communal amity. He said the BJP should apologize for such condemnable acts, and added that Vijay Kumar Malhotra’s statement would come under a criminal offence, and if he did not apologize, a case should be registered against him.

He condemned the BJP and said the party was rattled by an impending defeat, said congress leaders.

Now, in reality whom people want -- Immature AAP or experienced BJP? Congress is no where in scene for now.

When I asked around 1000 people, whom they are going to vote, they replied BJP or AAP and they bombarded me with volley of questions.

“I will vote for BJP,” said Rajesh, a paanwala.

When asked why? 

He replied. Why not? What Congress has done in last ten years?  Leave aside prices of electricity and water, the price of essential commodities have doubled. Public transport fares have increased, vegetable costs have increased, rent of the house has increased manifold, petrol prices have increased and what not.’

Rajesh will vote BJP because he suffering from inflation. On similar lines, many people opined that Modi will a stable government and he has proved being Gujarat chief minister. He has his own aura. 

When asked my maid Sunita she replied, ‘AAP’.

Why not BJP or Congress?

“They have been involved in various corrupt practices and scams. They have looted the tax payers’ money and filled their own pocket,” she said with excitement.  “They have become arrogant and they are feel they are only our saviours,” said

She wants to give another chance to AAP.  Like Sunita, many want to give another chance to AAP.

Like city’s assembly election last year mood was visible about a new entrant Aam Aadmi Party. But this time, there is buzz for the BJP hoping that Modi will give a stable and strong government. But AAP is also not lagging behind and hopefully, they would also manage to get good numbers. 

Patna blasts mastermind arrested

Another suspected top Indian Mujahideen operative involved in several blasts across India, including Hyderabad and Mumbai blasts, was arrested on Tuesday from West Bengal’s Naxalbari near Darjeeling. 

He is considered as the mastermind of serial bomb blasts at BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s rally in Patna in last October and Bodh Gaya blasts.

Identified as 23-year-old Tehseen Akhtar alias Monu, who is resident of Bihar’s Samastipur, was heading terror operations in India and was directly in touch with Bhatkal brothers -- Riyaz and Iqbal -- through encrypted online chat rooms on Yahoo and Nimbuzz.

Special Commissioner of Delhi Police S N Srivastava said Tehseen in coordination with Pakistani terrorist Zia-Ur-Rehman alias Waqas, who was nabbed on Sunday from Rajasthan’s Ajmer, was planning carry out terror strikes at various political rallies in upcoming Lok Sabha elections, however, they were not targeting, particularly for Modi.

Delhi Police’s Special Cell claimed that they managed to nab Tehseen after his location was disclosed by one associate Waqas, who was arrested along with three others -- Mohammad Mahruf, 21, Mohammad Waqar Azhar alias Haneef , 21, from Jaipur and Shaquib Ansari alias Khalid, 25, from Jodhpur -- on Sunday.

Contrary to this, the intelligence agencies officials stated that Tehseen was traced and detained a few days ago and was officially arrested on Monday after they manage to get other holed up suspected terrorists whereabouts, including Waqas.

Tehseen is a close aide and a protégé of arrested terrorist Ahmad Siddhibappa Zarar alais Yasin Bhatkal, is wanted for a series of terrorist strikes. He was presently handling all the India based modules of this outfit apart from being the key link between IM and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
“Of late, he had become the prime motivator and ideologue tasked with developing new modules for the outfit,” said Srivastava.

During interrogation, police found that Tehseen was known to Gayur Ahmad Jamali, who was arrested in 2011. Jamali introduced Tehseen to Kafeel Akhtar and Yasin Bhatkal and thereafter there was no turning back for Tehseen and he became an important member of terror outfit.

Tehseen was asked by Haddi to raise Ranchi's IM module after central agencies crackdown on IM hideout in Darbhanga. Tehseen had recruited Abdullah alias Haider to carry out terror strikes at Bodh Gaya and Patna with the help of Sithiyo based local module Imtiyaz Ansari.

According to Intelligence sources Tehseen and Haider extensively travelled to Ranchi to set up IM base and said to have recruited over 10 foot soldiers. 

However, his first assignment was to act as the carrier for Pakistani-based terrorist Mohammad Adil alias Ajmal and to ensure that he safely crosses over to Nepal and then to India.

His second assignment was to receive Waqas and Haddi in Kathmandu. Soon after that, all the three along Yasin and Ajmal carried Jama Masjid attacks in 2010.

He is involved in the Varanasi's Sheetla Ghat during the evening 'aarti', a cooker bomb blast outside Jama Masjid in Delhi, serial blasts in Mumbai (2011), blasts in Pune (2012) and the twin bombings in Hyderabad in 2013.

After arrest of Yasin and Haddi in August 2013, he left Jodhpur hideout and thereafter went to Kerala’s Munnar where Waqas was hiding. After staying there for few days, he went to Bihar and executed Patna Blasts with help of led by Abdullah, a SIMI member, and Imtiyaz Ansari.

Thereafter, he went to Nepal and was hiding over there before being picked up by intelligence agencies and later was handed over to Delhi Police.
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Modi, Ramdev slam Congress over misgovernance

Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi shared a stage with yoga guru Baba Ramdev in New Delhi’s Ram Lila ground and slammed Congress-led UPA government over black money and increasing prices of essentials commodities.

In a jam-packed ground, Modi arrived around 6 pm, being late for few hours,   and hailed Ramdev first and thereafter lambasted at the Congress in a bid to seek support of the yoga guru’s followers.

Addressing at Yoga Mahotsav organised by Ram Dev, Narendra Modi said, “Ramdev was doing great work through making Yoga andolan popular in the country but the people (Congress) was creating problems for him.”

Calling Modi to sharing stage, Ramdev was showing his strength at the ground where he during Congress rule was forcefully evicted in midnight crackdown on him and his followers at Ramlila Maidan by the Delhi Police on June 4, 2011 night during his anti-corruption agitation.

In the meantime, Modi’s remarks were directed to dissolve the tension between the saffron outfit and the yoga guru’s camp, who was upset with the BJP leadership for denial of tickets to some of his associates.

Modi said that the crucial issues raised by Ramdev including corruption and misgovernance have given sleepless nights to many politicians. Lauding Ramdev, Modi said that the yoga guru has been unperturbed by deciding to go against the establishment.

Dismissing that Ramdev was affiliated to any political party, Modi effusively batted for him saying that the yoga guru has been saddened by the state in which the nation is today.

“Baba Ramdev has played a pivotal role in connecting the nations through yoga and had the government realized yoga’s potential it could have become a cultural ambassador for the country. He has mobilised the masses through yoga and transformed it into a mass movement,” said Modi.

Addressing a thick gathering of people, most of which were the members of Bharat Swabhiman Trust, the prime ministerial aspirant also praised him for organising the event in 600 districts simultaneously with the use of technology.

“He has a fire within himself as to why bad things are happening in the country, why there is black money, why this corruption, why this bad governance? There is a pain behind all this as well. His issues are such which are liked by people like me. But there are many people whose sleep vanishes when he rakes up certain issues. So they get behind him,” he remarked.

Modi lambasted the Congress government over black money and increasing prices of essential commodities in India. “He wants to stop black money, unemployment and corruption. These are his issues. They are mine as well,” Modi said.

In the meantime Ramdev speaking on the coming Lok Sabha elections said that the country is feeling a wave and the people need to vote in the right direction.

Interestingly, while Modi was late for few hours, Ramdev was doing various asanas and was asking people them to follow him in a bid to deviate the mind of the people who were almost moving out of the ground. He kept on performing various asanas for at least 40 minutes to make the people stay in the ground till Modi's arrival.

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IM terrorist Waqas, three others held

Four suspected Indian Mujahideen members were arrested from Rajasthan, including a Pakistani national who, police claims, one of the most-wanted terrorists and is expert in bomb making. The police also said that he could be plotting terror attacks across the country during Lok Sabha polls.

The police denied the suspected terrorists plans to target BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate said that they were about to target important events across India.

The Pakistan-based suspected terrorist, identified as Zia-Ur-Rahman alias Waqas, was arrested on Saturday from Rajasthan’s Ajmer and with his arrest it is the second major blow for the Indian Mujahideen after the capture of founder leader Yasin Bhatkal in Nepal last year. Waqas has direct link with Pakistan intelligence agency ISI.

The other three accused -- Mohammad Mahruf, 21, Mohammad Waqar Azhar alias Haneef , 21, from Jaipur and Shaquib Ansari alias Khalid, 25, from Jodhpur – were simultaneously arrested.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde termed the arrest of the four suspected terrorists as a ‘big success’. “His arrest will help us in providing more links. We are in process of nabbing two to three more terrorists,” he said.

Waqas was arrested from Ajmer railway station soon after he reached there by a train from Mumbai. “Mahruf and Haneef landed in police net from Jaipur while Khalid was nabbed from Jodhpur," said Special Commissioner of Delhi Police (Special Cell) S N Srivastava.

Mahruf and Azhar are pursuing engineering from Jaipur and Shaquib Ansari was running a computer DTP and design printing business in Jodhpur. “All the three were in touch with Waqas,” said the officer.

The investigators had been working on the Rajasthan module of the terror outfit following the disclosure of Bhatkal and Haddi during their interrogations.

Waqas, who after arrest was brought to Delhi, was produced before the Special Court and 10 days police custody was obtained.

“Waqas revealed that he was to coordinate with the three alleged terrorists of the Rajasthan module for carrying out a series of terror strike. At his instance, the three alleged terrorists were nabbed,” said Srivastva.

Waqas, who was born in 1989 at Mustafabad in Pakistan’s Punjab, was pursuing Diploma in Food Technology from Faislabad in 2006. During his period he got inspired of Jehad while listening audio taped lectures of Maulana Masood Azhar.

In 2009, he was employed by Jamat-Ud-Dawa, the frontal organization of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, in with the help of a local named as Taj Mohammed and was assigned to collect donation.

Waqas joined LeT and underwent training at the Naushera camp of the terror outfit.  Later, Abdur Rehman of Jaish-e-Mohammed arranged his training at a camp in Waziristan in Federally Administered Tribal Area where he learnt bomb making. 

After training, Waqas met Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal in Karachi with help of ISI agents. He was asked to leave for India through Nepal and join other IM members.

Waqas reached Kathmandu in September, 2010 and met Tehseen Akhtar alias Monu, who is still the absconding, and Haddi. From Nepal, Waqas came to Bihar where he met Yasin Bhatkal and other members of terror outfit.  He along with others carried out Jama Masjid terror strikes on September 19, 2010, thereafter blasts at Sheetla Ghat in Varanasi on December 7, 2010.

After the Varanasi bombings, Yasin asked Waqas to leave for Mumbai where he stayed at Habib Apartment in Byculla. In June 2011, Waqas, Yasin, Haddi and Monu  carrid out blasts at Opera House and Zaveri Bazar.

The next terrorist strike carried out by Waqas was the Pune serial blasts of August 1 2012. He along with Haddi and the Maharashtra IM module embers -- Asad, Imran, Irfan, Feroze and Sayed Maqbool, all arrested by Delhi Police-- carried out blast.

After carrying out the Pune blasts, which did not yield the desired results, Waqas and Haddi left for Mangalore and settled in a safe house.

In Mangalore, Waqas on instructions from Riyaz shifted to Hyderabad. Early February 2013, Waqas and Haddi and Monu carried serial blasts. After that Waqas returned to Mangalore and stayed there till the time Yasin Bhatkal and Haddi was arrested.

Waqas left the Mangalore and moved to Munnar in Kerala. He kept roaming in Orissa, West Bengal, Maharashtra while keeping in touch with Riyaz and Monu. On Monu’s directions, he came to Ajmer where he was nabbed.

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BJP candidates for parliamentary seats in Delhi

North East Delhi: Manoj Tiwari joined the BJP before Delhi Assembly polls last year. The 51-year-old has acted in 98 Bhojpuri films and hails from Bihar. In 2009, Tiwari contested elections as a candidate for the Samajwadi Party in the Gorakhpur constituency but lost. Thereafter, he had been seen with BJP leaders and had expressed admiration for Shatrughan Sinha, the BJP MP for Patna.

Chandni Chowk: Dr Harsh Vardhan has been a five-time MLA from Krishna Nagar in East Delhi and he will be venturing into parliamentary polls for the first time. He was also a leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly. He was heath minister during BJP government in Delhi. 

East Delhi: Art of Living practitioner Mahesh Giri joined BJP a year ago. Giri has been the International Director of Art of Living and very close aide of founder of the foundation and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

North West Delhi: Dalit leader Udit Raj is a former Indian Revenue Service officer. Raj whohails from Uttar Pradesh’s Ramnagar has worked for the uplift of the Dalit community. He has joined Bharatiya Janata Party on February 23, 2014 in after disbanding his own political party Indian Justice Party. He converted to Buddhism on November 4, 2001 and changed his name from Ram Raj to Udit Raj.

West Delhi: Mehrauli MLA Parvesh Verma is the son of the former Delhi Chief Minister late Sahib Singh Verma. In last Lok Sabha election, he was denied ticket and he remained General Secretary of Delhi BJP till last Assembly election.

South Delhi: Ramesh Bidhuri will contest from South Delhi parliamentary constituency. A sitting MLA from Tughlaqabad, Bidhuri had lost the last Lok Sabha elections by 90,000 votes to Congress’ Ramesh Kumar in south Delhi. Bidhuri, who has stone crushing and transport business, joined BJP in 1993

New Delhi: Meenakshi Lekhi is party’s senior spokesperson. Lekhi is a noted Supreme Court lawyer and socio-political activist and has worked on several important cases being an active member of the BJP. It will Lekhi's first time in parliamentary elections. Lekhi is often known for her strong feminist views. She is the daughter-in-law of eminent lawyer Prem Nath Lekhi.

Sajjan Kumar's kin unlikley to get Lok Sabha ticket

Sitting Congress MP from the South Delhi constituency Ramesh Kumar, who is brother of senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar accused in anti-Sikh riot, is unlikely to get ticket for Lok Sabha as the party senior leaders don’t want to tarnish their image by giving ticket to anyone involved or related to Sikh riot. A senior party leader said that the party vice-president Rahul Gandhi is against giving ticket to Ramesh Kumar and want to bring in young face in Delhi.

“All the ten assembly constituencies under the South Delhi parliamentary area were lost in last elections. Moreover, Ramesh Kumar is Sajjan Kumar’s brother, who is an accused in 1984 anti-Sikh riots and Rahul Gandhi is against giving ticket to any relative of a leader accused of communal charges,” said a party source.

Sajjan Kumar was given apparently a last chance to be in the mainstream politics directly or indirectly in last Assembly elections. His son Jag Parvesh had got a party ticket from Sangam Vihar constituency but he lost in the elections, he added.

Sources say party high command is in talks with some eminent sports personality from the national Capital for the South Delhi seat. The BJP has fielded Ramesh Bidhuri, sitting MLA from Tughalakabad and a Gujjar leader while the AAP has fielded Colonel Devendra Sehrawat, a leader from Jat community. The Congress is also searching for a face from the Jat or Gurjar community which are dominating the areas of South Delhi.

In the West Delhi constituency, the party may consider fielding Mahabal Mishra, the sitting MP of the area. Though all the Assembly seats of his constituency were also lost in last elections, but the party has no poorvanchali face to counter BJP. The BJP has fielded Bhojpuri actor and singer Manoj Tiwari from the North-West constituency.

 “Mahabal’s son Vinay Mishra had got a party ticket from Palam Assembly constituency, but he lost in the elections. However, the party may reconsider Mishra as there is a significant population of poorvanchalis in West Delhi which voted him in last parliamentary elections,” said a party source.

The party is also hopeful with Mishra as the BJP has fielded Pravesh Verma, a leader from Jat community and son of former Delhi Chief Minister Saheb Singh Verma and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded former journalist Jarnail Singh from the constituency. Singh had shoed former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram during a press conference in year 2009 as he was irked over not getting satisfactory answer on 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

BJP organises ‘crash course’ for its poll managers

Taking lessons from last assembly elections in the city where AAP managed to bag 28 seats out of nowhere with the help of social networking and media management, the Bharatiya Janata Party has planned to organise a ‘crash course’ for its poll managers on Wednesday for the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP has planned in launch an direct attack on the AAP leader and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s allegation on media of being hand-in gloves with BJP’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi but before so they want to ‘mend their own house’.

Senior BJP leaders will educate its office bearers and other party members on nuances of electioneering, interaction with media and propaganda strategy during a day-long workshop at the Constitution Club. 

The national leaders and spokespersons of the BJP will also brief the participants on effective presentation of the party’s policies on a wide range of issues. They said four senior party leaders and experts on election management will be teaching them lessons throughout the day.

All 31 sitting MLAs, councillors, district unit presidents, 28 general secretaries, state unit’s office bearers and media in-charges will be attending the workshop. In addition to this, the poll in-charge and convenors for seven Lok Sabha constituencies will also participate in the training session.

“Poll preparations including booth management and campaigning will be the focus of the work shop. Experts will brief the young leaders on how to how to build a good rapport with voters in their constituencies,” said a Delhi BJP leader.

Party leaders and workers will also be taught on how to be within the framework of law and ensure that there is minimum violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

Sources said a number of young party workers are new to parliamentary polls and hence they need to be taught the basics of electioneering on such a large scale.

The exercise, they said, also aims at strengthening the propaganda machinery ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls so as to take on the opposition Congress and the Aam Admi Party and its leaders on media discussions and debates.

“The participants will be trained on effective handling of media queries as well as putting forth the party’s vision and agenda for the elections. Only a selected panel of party spokespersons and media in-charge will be entitled to speak to media during the polls,” a BJP leader said.

Leaders said propaganda machinery is a key component of BJP’s campaign strategy for the elections. “The party has decided to tread cautiously. Besides raising the key issues of corruption, inflation and security, the party leaders have a great responsibility to uphold the image of prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in public view,” they added.

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Delhi Girls Take Fast Lane to Easy Money

In her late twenties, Ramandeep likes to live life kingsize. To support her lavish lifestyle, she and her motor biker boyfriend Jasjeet commit around five to six chain snatchings in a month. But only after her husband, who works for a transport company, leaves for work.

This and more such cases came to light last Friday when Delhi Police managed to chase and arrest this couple from east Delhi’s Krishna Nagar. They are involved in around 15 such incidents in Delhi’s upmarket areas such as Barakhamba Road, Connaught Place, Kasturba Gandhi Road and India Gate.

“Ramandeep deposited all the stolen chains at Muthoot Finance and comfortably made around `1 lakh a month,” Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Beniwal said.

Delhi police’s next new ad campaign might just ask people to watch out for women riding pillion on motorbikes. Several incidents of chain-snatching have been reported in the capital, in which college-going girls, riding pillion behind their boyfriends, have grabbed gold chains from women on roads and escaped well in time.

Such boy-girl chain-snatching gangs operating on the city’s roads have been keeping policemen on their toes. Their modus operandi is simple. Girls ride pillion on motorcycles with their faces covered using a “dupatta” and target women pedestrians. Last year, Delhi Police arrested 44 such women for committing snatchings and most of them were found to be college girls. In 2012, only eight such cases were reported. This shortcut to making quick money seems to be catching up. Police say many more such young female snatchers are active in the city at the moment.

“While their male accomplices drive the bike, women ride pillion and commit snatching. It has become a new trend in the city and it’s disturbing. It is really tough to nab them,” said Beniwal. These women are active mostly at traffic intersections, market places where they can find easy targets.

Many such gangs are active at various traffic intersections at Lutyens’ Delhi and busy markets such as Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar, Karol Bagh, Janpath, Chandni Chowk, R K Puram, Lodi Colony, INA Colony and Greater Kailash. In some cases, these women are employed by male snatcher gangs, said police.

These snatchers are also active at Metro stations where they wait at the platform. When the train doors are about to shut they snatch valuables from bystanders and rush into the train.

Such gangs are active in other parts of the country as well. “In Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai too, women have started committing snatching on bikes. In the recent past, many incidents have come to light,” said another IPS officer.

Poll panel reach out southern voters

Delhi’s election commission has for the first time set its eyes on the 16 lakh voters from southern states and is reaching out to them so that they can exercise their vote and play an active role in deciding the fate of the seven high-profile Parliamentary seats in the forthcoming election.

The move is aimed to increase the voting percentage in the capital, seat of governance in the country, and also to ensure that people from other regions living in the capital do not feel left out.

The Delhi Elector Office has planned several awareness programmes including nukkad natak and musical programmes in the run up to the elections and also roped in Tollywood singers to send the message across in areas inhabited by people from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the capital.

"The nukkad natak will be performed in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages and. Some NGOs and various active theater groups are lending us a helping hand in the awareness campaigns targetting people from southern states living in the capital for several decades," said an official.

Around 16 lakh people from these states live in the national capital and most of the South Indian population is concentrated in areas like Munirka, Ber Sarai, R K Puram, Mayur Vihar, Dilshad Garden, and Dwarka, Uttam Nagar and Vikaspuri.

“We want voters to come in hordes and take part in the biggest electoral process. Why should people from one region be left behind and feel alienated?,” Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev said.

“Since we organised special camps to reach out to people migrated from north eastern states, we have also planned a special programme for Southern states voters. They sometimes feel themselves alienated,”

The officer said that they have planned these programmes so he can achieve one of the prime goals of the commission -- 100 per cent voting. “To ensure record voting turnout in 2014 Lok Sabha polls and to bring awareness these programme would be organised,” he said.

The electoral office has planned to do such cultural functions outside various south Indian temples and restaurants apart from the areas where they are living. “Candle march will also be organised to motivate these voters,” said Dev.

Sobhana Sukumaran, who hails from Kerala’s Kottayam and is living in Dwarka for last one decade, said, “It good to hear that. We came to Delhi for livelihood around three decades ago and still sometimes we feel that we are left out. These kinds of initiatives make us feel that we have also stake in the city’s politics and development.”

Similarly, A K Roy, President of East Delhi’s Mayur Vihar Phase Two Resident Welfare Association said, “In collaboration with district election officer we had also organised a special camp outside the temple in out locality to get south Indian people enrolled in voter list. We will further carry such initiatives.”

Interestingly, during Delhi assembly in 2013, Bharatiya Janata Party fielded M Venkaiah Naidu, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj to campaign in these localities and so tap southern states voters.

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Delhi chief electoral office asks EC to take against AAP

The city chief electoral office recommends Election Commission of India on Monday to take strict action against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters and their leaders Shazia Ilmi and Ashutosh for illegally carrying out violent demonstration outside BJP headquarters five days ago.

The chief electoral officer Vijay Dev said that they have sent a ‘fact finding report with recommendation’ to the Chief Election Commissioner after he collected from New Delhi district election officer. We have also written to police to take legal action against all the errant supporters and leaders and have also sent recommendation to Chief Election Commissioner to take action for breaking model code of conduct,” Vijay Dev said.

The officer said that they have also got the Delhi Police report. The police report also suggest that AAP protesters indulged in ‘riotous acts’ and used criminal force to prevent police from discharging their duty.

The police report stated that four policemen, 16 AAP workers, nine BJP workers and a media person were injuries during the scuffle.

The officer said that they were not satisfied with the party’s reply to the show cause notice issued to them. 

“They undoubtedly violated model code of conduct and their reply too did not were satisfying,” said another electoral officer.

Now the election commission will initiate inquiry into the matter and would summon the party leaders for election. “After that only they will take action against the party leaders. The final decision will be taken them as to what action could be initiated against AAP,” said the officer.

The officer said that the party in their show cause notice had replied that they went there of demonstrate peacefully over their party leader Arvind Kejriwal’s detention in Gujarat and it was BJP who got violent and not they.  

“They also had stated that the protest was an instant reaction to Kejriwal detention and it was not a planned protest and they fully respect the model code of conduct,” the officer quoted AAP’s reply.  

In the meantime, the officer said that to conduct fair election in the city they have directed Excise department to check all the farmhouses and bordering areas to curb the flow of liquor. “We have also asked them to check the sales alcohol of licensed liquor shops. If any liquor shop sale jumps up by 30 percent compare to last month then they would be under scanner,” said the officer.    

To check the flow of black money used for polls, the officer said that the income tax department has been advised to check every transaction made of Rs 10 lakh and above. “They have also been advised to keep eye on hotels, farmhouses, railway stations, bordering areas and airports to keep eye on cash inflow in the city,” added the officer.

Committee to monitor parties making false promises in Delhi

March 5: Taking note on Election Commission’s decision to prevent political parties from indulging into ‘non-implementable’ promises in their poll documents, the Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev said that they have formed a committee on Wednesday to keep eye on parties and their leaders making such false promises.

“If anyone, be it a political party or politician, found making any false election promises, they would be booked for violation of Model Code of Conduct,” Vijay Dev said.

The committee comprises of three members and they will interact with nodal poll officers.  “They would be checking the manifestos of the political parties as well as try to attended rallies where these non-implementable promises can be announced,” said the officer.

After the Election Commission fixed the date of April 10 for voting in the city for parliamentary elections, the Delhi election commission has pulled up its socks to register maximum voters and make the elections successful.

Vijay Dev also said that till January this year 1, 28,424 new voters have enrolled in the electoral list after last year’s Assembly election. The last day for enrolment is on March 12.

 “There are 66, 84,476 male voters and 53, 76,017 female voters including 638 others (eunuchs). We will launch an extensive media campaign to invite maximum applications for new enrolments,” said Dev adding that getting a voter card does not guarantee citizen to cast their vote till the time their names are not listed in electoral roll.

From March 9 the commission will launch a special programme at selected polling booth. The officials will be present there to collect forms from new voters and check the names of existing voters manually in the voters list. The list of such booths will be released before March 8.

For differently able voters, the poll panel has initiated a sensitisation programme of its employees. “We will ensure that every differently able person is being helped to cast the vote,” Dev added.

The commission will depute more than 85,000 civil officials and the same number of security personnel, including 35,000 Delhi police officials.

 “We have launched our training programme for all of these officials. It is not an uphill task for us in such short notice period as most of the officials have recently conducted Assembly elections,” he added.

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