Meanwhile, Fernandes goes soft on Mulayam

NDA convenor George Fernandes launched the JD (U)’s countrywide campaign here today by praising Samajwadi Party chief and Uttar Pradesh...

NDA convenor George Fernandes launched the JD (U)’s countrywide campaign here today by praising Samajwadi Party chief and Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav.

He recalled how Mulayam had done a great service to the nation in 1999 when he ‘‘blocked Sonia Gandhi’s passage to premiership’’. What he forgot is that his party’s candidate for Aonla is a man who had defected from the SP after a fight with the local Yadav leadership and had been trying to consolidate Thakur-Brahmin votes.

In fact, it was a rally loaded with contradictions. The JD(U) leadership was at pains to explain why it had chosen Uttar Pradesh to launch its campaign when its base was in Bihar. A party spokesman quipped: ‘‘Had we launched our campaign in Bihar, we would have probably forgotten Uttar Pradesh.’’ The truth is the JD (U) did not want to delay the campaign launch any longer. Its Bihar list was not yet ready and some leaders had still not decided whether they need to change their constituencies. Fernandes then trained his guns at Sonia Gandhi. On the other hand, Sharad Yadav said the Congress was hardly a force here and bashed up the SP and BSP.

Delhi Police patrolling van rams into tea stall, 1 killed

Cities40 min ago

A Delhi Police patrolling van rammed into a tea stall in Central Delhi's Mandir Marg area, leaving one person dead early Thursday. The man killed in the accident has been identified as Gangaram Tiwari, who used to run the tea stall on the pavement, and sleep inside it.

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