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SUSHMA SWARAJ BJP spokesperson versus B. K. HARI PRASAD Congress general secretary

"After accepting a foreigner’s leadership, the Congress has lost all its moral authority to speak about the freedom struggle."

"We don’t need lessons from a party whose own leader gave an affidavit saying he wasn’t part of the freedom struggle."

EPILOGUE: Even 60 years after Independence, our leaders are squabbling over freedom struggle.


VOICES

“The CPI(M) has lost its ideology. Money is honey for them. They are now batting for the multinationals.”

Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress chief

“The prime minister has demeaned earlier Presidents by comparing (Pratibha) Patil with them. No presidential candidate has ever been involved in so many controversies.”

Prakash Javdekar, BJP spokesman

“We’re going through unique dynamics due to the shortage of leadership with nobility. The only hope is the judiciary with its excellence and impeccable integrity.”

A.PJ. Abdul Kalam, President of India

“Sometimes I am disappointed when people from India heap praise on our dictator (President Musharraf). I can only ask them, ‘Are you coming from the caves?’”

Asma Jahangir, Pakistani human rights activist

“I was exhausting my money. Today I need money, a little more name and fame. To struggle for the second time in life is more interesting. Only, now I am more aware and wiser.”

Govinda, actor and Congress Lok Sabha member

THE BUZZ OF THE WEEK

The Congress cornering prime property in Delhi by floating trusts is old hat. It is now the BSP’s turn to go on a buying spreee and the party reportedly paid over Rs 40 crore last week for a bungalow in posh Sunder Nagar.

WON: By grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand, the Magistral Ciudad de Leon chess tournament for a record seventh time, beating Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov.

POSTPONED: The Eleventh Sikh Conclave in Ratia, Haryana, due to the intense stand-off between Sacha Sauda chief Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and the Sikh clergy.

DIED: Trainee pilots Reena Salve, 25, from Mumbai and Varsha Gopinath Pillai, 18, from Thiruvanathapuram when their aircrafts collided in midair in Manila. They had been taking flying lessons for the past five months.

PICTURE SPEAK

BACK TO BACK: Patil (left) and Shekhawat

After watching its candidate slowly lose the war of public perception, the Congress got its act together. “We’ve done enough fielding, it’s now time for some batting,” declared Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, parliamentary affairs minister and a key player of the ‘Save Pratibha’ campaign. Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi and Dasmunshi together turned on the offensive against Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

The vice-president’s past record was scrutinised for blemishes but despite the UPA’s best efforts, a campaign to smear his record in police service failed to take off. Later an anonymous letter circulated by the anti-Shekhawat lobby accused his son-in-law of being involved in landscams. What is worring the UPA is that Shekhawat might up the transparency stakes by declaring his assets despite the Election Commission ruling that this is not necessary.

Initially, the Congress toyed with the idea of fielding Patil to the media to counter all the charges against her. However, this ambitious plan was shot down by Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee who argued that this was not a US presidential poll. Privately, Congressmen are wary of any potential bloomers such an interaction may lead to. All her interactions have been limited to press releases.

The BJP says its target is not the presidential polls. Rather, it wants to make Sonia’s penchant for “handpicking family loyalists” for both the country’s top jobs an issue in E-2009.

-By Priya Sahgal

PICTURE SPEAK

IN THE RACE: Mayawati wanted the stadium razed

“We will allow the demolition only over our dead bodies,” said Nagendra Singh, a former weightlifting coach.

The news spread like wild fire and a public interest litigation was filed in the high court the same night resulting in a stay order on the demolition.

Ironically, the Rs 72-crore stadium was unveiled in 1997 by Mayawati herself, who was then the chief minister. It boasts of the only Olympic-size swimming pool in the state, apart from having nurtured cricketers like Suresh Raina, R.P. Singh and Piyush Chawla.

Mayawati’s unsporting activities are not restricted to bulldozing stadiums. In her previous regime, she had announced reservation for the Scheduled Castes in sports teams and hostels. She was later forced to withdraw the order following staunch opposition from the sports community.

But the chief minister is not alone in putting sports on the backburner for personal preferences. While in power, Mulayam Singh Yadav had ordered the demolition of the badminton academy to expand his dream project Lohia Park. It had again taken a court’s intervention to save the building.

Sports in Uttar Pradesh is already in a shambles. Most stadiums lack coaches, play grounds are ill-maintained and sportspersons are denied proper equipment and facilities. For Mayawati, this may well turn out to be a race that she may find hard to win.

-By Subhash Mishra

PICTURE SPEAK

STRIPPED EASE: Chauhan

But it now seems that she was as much a sinner as sinned against. The police, it is learnt, had already booked a case against her in-laws before she went on her march. Her in-laws are said to have filed a police complaint against her accusing her of harassing and torturing them. They also claim thats she drinks and smokes. Her husband Pratapsinh alleges that he was unaware that the 22-year-old had been married twice earlier. Puja rejects all charges just like she rejected most of her clothes.

-By Uday Mahurkar

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