Blank bullets?

• This is apropos of your report ‘Amar returns Maya fire on corruption’ (IE, ...

• This is apropos of your report ‘Amar returns Maya fire on corruption’ (IE,
December 16). Amar Singh, MP and general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, has reportedly said that the Mulayam government has so much ‘evidence’ of
corruption in the cash-for-queries scam and in the Taj case against BSP chief Mayawati that she could be sent to jail. This raises pertinent questions: is the issue of alleged corruption by the BSP chief a private matter between Mayawati and Amar Singh, to be pursued to its logical conclusion or kept under wraps, at will? Is it legal and behoving a state administration to proclaim it has conclusive information about gross corruption against the head of a political party yet not proceed legally against him/her? What prevents Amar Singh and the UP government from proceeding against Mayawati?

— Chittranjan Dass New Delhi

No conviction

• Bush’s statement that he takes responsibility for the decision for invading Iraq carries little conviction. It must only serve as a sop to his conscience for sacrificing more than 2100 of his young soldiers and 30,000 Iraqis in a pointless war.

— H.R. B. Satyanaryana New Delhi

Unfit for House

• The Lok Sabha Speaker may be setting a dangerous precedent by allowing a discussion in Parliament on Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion from the Test squad. This kind of discussion — irrespective of the player’s fitness — will diminish the exalted institution of Parliament.

— P.K. Jha St. Cloud

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• It was a bad decision, but is Ganguly important enough to be discussed in Parliament? Do we have a dearth of serious issues in India? Just think Pranab Mukherji, finance minister, feeling bad about a sportsman and the treatment given to him! Yes, cricket is a national sport and I’m a fan too. But I can’t condone ministers and Parliament itself preoccupying themselves with this issue.

— Hari Mumbai

King of hearts

• The decision of the BCCI committee to oust Sourav Ganguly from the Indian cricket team is motive driven and parochial. After Sharad Pawar’s undisputed victory in the BCCI elections, he has been itching to show he’s the boss. Dalmiya and anyone associated with him have no place in the new regime. It is unfortunate that a player like Sourav is the victim of this Pawar politics. Ganguly is in the hearts of many Indians.

— Deepika Batra New Delhi

• The sacking of India’s most successful test captain has proved that politics rules the BCCI. I am not shocked as Ganguly’s exit was inevitable. But he
deserves a decent farewell.

— Vinita Singh Kolkata

Banish politics

• It is ironic that two politicians of the CPI and CPM have demanded the inclusion of Sourav Ganguly in the test squad while pleading to keeping politics out of cricket (IE, December 16).

— J.M. Manchanda On e-mail

Congress releases second list for Bihar elections, fields 5 candidates

India12 hr ago

Congress released its second list of candidates for the Bihar Assembly elections, but the Mahagathbandhan is still working on a seat-sharing arrangement for the first phase of polling. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) will contest six seats on its own. The elections will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11, with results on November 14.

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