Newsreel 25.04.04

• Sporadic incidents of violence—leaving 19 dead—and some embarrassments—cricketing heroes Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel a...

• Sporadic incidents of violence—leaving 19 dead—and some embarrassments—cricketing heroes Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel are missing from voters’ list—apart, polling in the first phase of 2004 Lok Sabha and assembly elections on Tuesday was peaceful, with 50-55 per cent voters exercising their right. But there were few smiling faces among the NDA and, more specifically, the BJP. The Indian Express-NDTV exit poll, taken along with projections of its opinion polls, show the party is not as shining as it initially hoped, and that the 272 mark may not be a cakewalk for the BJP, allies

• BJP breaks its silence, and comes out with a sari defence on the Lucknow stampede, where 22 women and three children died. Snatching its pallu from Lalji Tandon’s hands, it says the function where the saris were distributed was entirely the senior party leader’s idea and that the BJP was neither aware nor gave any resources for the April 12 event. Earlier, Lalji made the party task easier by quitting as PM’s poll manager and claiming that the EC not only knew his sari plan but that its three reigning officers had also wished him on his birthday

• Meanwhile, UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav gifts his opponents a self-goal when his Samajwadi Party takes out an ad equating his ‘‘sacrifices’’ with those of the Prophet’s grandson. When the Muslim community objects, the man who has always prided himself on the Miyan tag often attached to his name is quick to backtrack. But the damage may be done.

Two other appeals related to the polls—reported in the Express—raise eyebrows, one by Haryana Governor Babu Parmanand singing praises for the Vajpayee government and another by Minorities Commission Chairman Tarlochan Singh asking Muslims to learn from Sikhs, stop ‘‘community voting’’

• Already tainted by the PPSC scam, Punjab and Haryana High Court judges take the unprecedented step of going on mass leave after the Chief Justice pulls two of them up for applying for membership of a private golf course and a club involved in litigation. The Supreme Court is forced to intervene, asking them to bring ‘‘the showdown to an end’’

• Even as a Board member from IIM Kolkata now speaks out against Chairman Y C Deveshwar’s resolution accepting the fee cut, Murli Manohar Joshi goes on unfazed. Now he pulls up IIT, Powai (Mumbai), for putting up two hostels and a dining hall on turnkey basis, two years ago. Never mind that Rs 13 crore of the Rs 35-crore project came from Infosys CEO and IIT alumnus Nandan Nilekani. Joshi’s objection is to the ‘‘urgency’’ of the project and whether IITians should live in smart hostels instead of ‘‘austere conditions’’

• Controversial Argentine star Maradona has a brush with death as he is admitted in hospital with heart and breathing problems. While the 43-year-old has battled drug addiction for the past decade, family doctor denies it was a case of too much cocaine