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STATES
Campaign Vignettes
Kolkata: Voters in Howrah had a celeb-campaigner
last week. Not some starlet, but poet-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, who was
on a three-day trip to spread the Red word. Missing of course was wife,
cine star Rajya Sabha member Shabana Azmi. A deliberate move? Perhaps.
For a cigarette puffing "liberated" campaigner might just have
seemed out of place in the conservative Muslim pocket.
Thiruvananthapuram: The Indian National
League (INL) has a tacit arrangement with the Marxist-led Left Democratic
Front, for the polls in Kerala, but CPI(M) leaders cannot decide whether
the INL is a communal party. V.S. Achuthanandan, the man who will be chief
minister if the LDF returns to power, thinks the INL is a communal outfit.
"There is no doubt about it." But Chief Minister E.K.Nayanar
believes otherwise. When told that his senior party colleague differed
with him, he replied: "Is that so? Then you ask him why he thinks
differently?"
Chennai: Whether or not Jayalalitha can
contest elections will be decided partly by the returning officer of Andipetti.
Her name? S. Jaya.
POLLSPEAK: AJIT PANJA, Trinamool Congress leader
 Q.
You had a good rapport with Mamata Banerjee? What happened?
A.
Ever since we left the NDA, I have had no contact with her. At a party
meeting last month, she accused me of being in touch with Advani. She
also threatened everyone, saying if anyone maintained contact with any
BJP leader, she would fix us.
Q. Who is driving the wedge between you two?
A.
There are many people. Even some industrialists are involved.
Q. Is Mamata very autocratic?
A.
Not autocratic, but whimsical. Her reactions are always knee-jerk.
Q. Was the Trinamool Congress right in pulling
out of the NDA?
A.
The Trinamool didn't do it. Mamata did it. The decision was that Mamata
and I would quit the cabinet, but the party would continue to support
the NDA from outside. Then she came to Kolkata and changed everything.
Q. Will the Trinamool return to the NDA?
A. If that happens, we will
be the laughing stock. As for me, I am still for the NDA.
Q. Is the party heading for a split?
A.
Not to my knowledge. But I have lost confidence in the party.
Q. Why do you still remain in the party after
all the humiliation?
A.
Because I am senior. I have to show patience. Otherwise, the family breaks.
Tickets To Trouble
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| Antony with supporters |
Thiruvananthapuram: Until last week, it
was the Congress faction led by dissident leader K. Karunakaran that had
raised the banner of revolt. But with the high command mollifying the
dissidents with additional seats, the loyalists are up in arms. When told
that they were being replaced, the three candidates of the group led by
A.K. Antony, who had been granted tickets and had spent a lot of money
on their campaigns were not pleased. Antony, as would be expected of him,
said he was "accepting the high command's decision with sadness"
but his followers went on the rampage, ransacking district party offices
and burning effigies of Karunakaran and his aides. For the high command,
it is a case of any which way you lose.
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