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Congress President Sonia Gandhi has buzzed the poll buzzer on Saturday asking the party to prepare for general elections during a meeting convened by her of top party functionaries.

The announcement clearly indicates that the party is willing to risk elections amid soaring inflation rate and dilemma of N-deal.  Sonia Gandhi directed senior leaders to draw up time-bound programs and strategies to re-energize the party in all states to get prepare for the polls.

“This meeting was about poll preparations. The Lok Sabha elections were also discussed, the party has to get ready for polls and everybody has been asked to draw up programs and submit the same at the next meeting,” AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters here.

The Congress president has given party men a time-table for building the party at all levels, Veerappa Moily, chairman of the AICC Media Cell said.

Sonia during the meet also directed Congress leaders to tell people about party’s achievements like the Rs 60,000-crore farm loan waiver scheme announced by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the 2008 Union Budget.

However, much talked N-deal is not subjected to discussion during the meet. “The issue has already been discussed at two working committee meetings,” a senior leader said.

Though the UPA constituents strongly favor the nuclear deal, they hold almost equally strident views against holding of early elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had on Thursday released its first list of candidates for the next Lok Sabha elections.  The list has names of five other candidates - Navjot Singh Sidhu (Amritsar), Vinod Khanna (Gurdaspur), Shripad Y Naik (Panaji), Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur) and TPS Rawat (Pauri).

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani will contest from Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat. Lok Sabha elections are due around April next year.

Tags: BJP, Congress, Elections India, Gandhi, Poll, Sonia Gandhi

Violence during the polling for the third and final phase of the Panchayat Elections in seven districts of West Bengal on Sunday killed eight people including 5 CPI (M) supporters and 3 of Congress. The clashes between supporters of the Communist Party of India Marxist and the Congress in Murshidabad and Birbhum districts left several people injured also.

Altogether 62 people were arrested in Murshidabad district, the stronghold of the Congress.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said, “Two CPI-M and two Congress supporters were killed at the Domkol police station area of Murshidabad district while one person each was killed at the Harudanga and Raninagar police station areas in the same district, as rival party supporters clashed with bombs and firearms.”

He said that one CPI-M worker was killed at Nannur in Birbhum district.

About 25 people were admitted to hospitals with either gunshots or bomb splinter injuries.

The first phase of the poll which was held on May 11 has been went peaceful while the violence struck in second phase on May 14 which killed 6 people and about 15 were reportedly injured.

Following violence in the second phase, security has been beefed up for the third and final phase of the Panchayat elections, which is being held in districts of Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri, North and South Dinajpur, Birbhum, Murshidabad and Malda.

Tags: Election, Panchayat Election, Poll, West Bengal