Gujarat Congress to campaign against Jaswant’s book

September 18th, 2009 LAHORE - Three people have been arrested for selling pirated editions of former Indian minister Jaswant Singh's book "Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence" in this Pakistani city, authorities said. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raided two shops in Defence Housing Authority and arrested three people for selling the pirated editions of Jaswant Singh's book, Daily Times reported Friday.

September 4th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat High Court on Friday revoked the ban on expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh's controversial book "Jinnah: India -Partition, Independence." The Narendra Modi Government had banned the book on August 19 saying the book might create communal disturbances in the state and was also derogatory of India's first Home Minister of India Sardar Vallabhai Patel. "The Government's decision is violating the fundamental rights and freedom of expression," the High Court said.

August 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Jaswant Singh's book that got him expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now creating fissures in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with many key allies opposing the idea of banning the book. BJP-ruled Gujarat has already banned the book "Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence", which says that Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah has been demonised in India and holds country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and home minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel also responsible for the partition.

August 19th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat government late Wednesday decided to ban expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh's controversial book on partition for his criticism of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. "Making any references to his (Patel's) role during those critical times without any evidence is an insult to the people of Gujarat, which we will not take lying down," state government spokesman and Health Minister Jay Narayan Vyas told the NDTV news channel.

August 18th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh's controversial book on Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah was consigned to flames by Uttar Pradesh Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Pramod Tiwari here Tuesday afternoon. A large number of Congressmen cheered him as he made a bonfire of the book, "Jinnah - India, Partition, Independence", which has already sparked off a debate in the corridors of power in New Delhi.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Friday adjourned the house till 2 p.m. following the protests by Congress MPs from Gujarat, who raised the issue of the illicit liquor tragedy in Ahmedabad which has claimed at least 136 lives so far.

April 20th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Congress has drastically cut down the number of public meetings for its top leaders in Gujarat this week due to security concerns, party officials said Monday. The national headquarters of the Congress in New Delhi last week turned down the Gujarat unit's plea for a series of public meetings for party president Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh across the state with more meetings in the cities and towns of the Saurahstra region in western Gujarat, the officials said.

April 1st, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) will not campaign for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state, a senior leader said here Wednesday. 'The VHP as such does not officially announce its support for the BJP, being a 'non-political' body but had been supporting the party by providing its workers for the campaign work during the previous polls,' the leader told IANS on condition of anonymity.

March 20th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat unit of the Congress has come out with a CD showing its former legislator Bhavsinh Rathod distributing money to villagers in Patan district of the state. 'Rathod had been distributing money in Dhinaj village in Patan.

March 17th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Gujarat has kept up its demand for contesting at least two Lok Sabha seats in the state, even as ally Congress has already announced its own candidates in 12 constituencies. The Congress is expected to make an announcement on candidates for the remaining 14 seats from Gujarat in the next two days.

March 13th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Congress party is setting up hundreds of internet kiosks across the country, including 50 in Gujarat, to promote an online campaign to register youth members and inform them about the central government's initiatives, party sources said here Thursday. 'Our online campaign strategy is being worked out by a dedicated IT team.

March 5th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) wants to field candidates from seven significant Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat even as negotiations are on with the Congress, which wants to fight on all the 26 seats in the state. The key Lok Sabha seats being demanded by Sharad Pawar's NCP are Rajkot, Dahod, Anand, Godhra, Bharuch, Ahmedabad (East) and Kutch.

March 4th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has decided to field candidates from all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, it said Tuesday. 'Gujarat is an important state for the BSP high command.

March 4th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Mahagujarat Janata Party (MJP), formed by dissident Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, will focus on the problems of Gujarat's nearly two million diamond workers during its campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, for which it will pick candidates after the big parties have announced their nominees. 'We will wait for the BJP and Congress to announce their list of candidates for the 26 Lok Sabha seats and then decide which of our candidates should be fielded,' MJP president Govardhan Zadhapia told IANS.

January 18th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Congress party in Gujarat, during its campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, will highlight the failures of the Narendra Modi-led government, a senior leader said. A core committee of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) comprising senior leaders met Sunday evening and formulated a plan to identify and publicise various failures of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), especially in the rural areas of the state.