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What prompted Chief Minister Mayawati to write a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,requesting for a special loan waiver scheme for Bundelkhand farmers? No doubt,there is a demand for a loan waiver in Bundelkhand. Also,the UPA government is already thinking of announcing a loan waiver for the region close to the Assembly elections. Mayawati’s calculations are simple. If the Centre announces the loan waiver,she can claim credit for it. If it does not,she can always say that she was sympathetic to Bundelkhand,but the Centre ignored her demand.
Birthday boy
Aid rush
Last week saw leaders of political parties rushing to Nighasan to express solidarity with the family of 14-year-old girl Sonam,who was allegedly raped and killed by policemen on the premises of the local police station. Soon it turned into a competition of sorts. A delegation of SP started it by offering Rs 1 lakh to the family. When leaders of the Peace Party of India got to know about it,they announced they would pay Rs 1.21 lakh. In the evening came the BJP delegation,led by the party’s state president S P Shahi. It did not carry any money,but after it got to know about the SP and PPI’s gesture,a senior BJP leader asked local partymen to arrange Rs 50,000 for the bereaved family. Like the BJP,Congress leaders too did not carry any money,but state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi announced that they would send Rs 2 lakh. For Sonam’s parents,who survive hand to mouth,this was certainly big help.
Right connections
Beni Prasad Verma may be a late entrant in the Congress,but nevertheless he is entertaining ticket seekers from several districts of central UP,including Lucknow,Barabanki,Gonda,Faizabad,Lakhimpur,Behraich,Basti and Siddharthanagar. His supporters have spread the word that Verma has direct access to Rahul Gandhi and that he will have a say in deciding the tickets for 50 to 60 seats. Worried,many Congress leaders who were never really pally with each other have now come together to counter Verma. But Verma seems undeterred and the line of ticket-seekers outside his Lucknow and Delhi offices keeps growing.
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