BJP wrests 2 Assembly seats in Gujarat, Cong retains 3

GANDHINAGAR, Oct 16 (UNI): The BJP in Gujarat today wrested two Assembly seats, Khedbrahma (ST) and Bhanwad, from the Congress which retained Borsad, Vyara (ST) and Dharampur (ST).

The results of the October 13 by-election are seen as a morale booster and a Navratri gift for the supporters of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was buffetted with a virtual rebellion by the Keshubhai Patel camp in May-June.

The victory in Khedbrahma is considered important because the BJP had never won this tribal seat, a stronghold of former Chief Minister Amarsinh Choudhary, who passed away on August 15 this year.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party now has 129 legislators and the Opposition Congress 53 in the 182-member Assembly.

The BJP wrested the Khedbrahma seat from the Congress by a slender margin of 599 votes, but its victory in Bhanwad was with a convincing margin.

The Congress victories, by comparison, were all with relatively large margins.

In a major upset, the BJP's Ramilaben Bara, in her third successive attempt to enter the Assembly, wrested the traditional Khedbrahma (ST) Assembly seat in Sabarkantha district of Amarsinh Choudhary from his daughter Vaishaliben Gameti.

In Bhanwad, the ruling party candidate, Mulubhai Bera, wrested the seat from the Congress by defeating Vajshibhai Kanara by 25,984 votes.

The Congress retained its traditional stronghold of Borsad (Anand district) of former Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki, and also the tribal-dominated seats of Dharampur (ST) and Vyara (ST) in Valsad and Surat districts.

Congress candidate Amit Chawda defeated his nearest BJP rival Ummedsinh Gohil by 18,157 votes in Borsad.

In Vyara (ST), Congress candidate Punabhai Gamit defeated BJP's Pratapbhai Gamit by 13,719 votes.

In Dharampur (ST), Congress nominee Chhanabhai Choudhary retained the seat defeating his nearest rival BJP's Babarbhai Bhoya by 17,916 votes.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Lakshambhai Patel polled 5,669 votes, standing third.

Pappu Yadav wins from Madhepura MADHEPURA, Bihar, Oct 16 (UNI): RJD candidate Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav today romped home from Madhepura Lok Sabha seat, steamrolling his nearest rival R P Yadav of the JD (U) by 2,08,860 votes in the byelection, held on October 13 last.

District Magistrate-cum-Returning Officer Prem Singh Meena said Mr Pappu Yadav polled 3,65,946 votes, while his nearest rival JD (U) candidate R P Yadav bagged 1,57,088 votes.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) retained the seat as in the last General elections Railway Minister and RJD candidate Lalu Prasasd won from the constituency.

However, in 1999, Prasad lost the seat to Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal-United).

AIMIM wins back Asifnagar after 10 years, TRS retains Siddipet HYDERABAD, Oct 16 (UNI): Mouzam Khan of the All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) today won the Asifnagar seat while the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) retained the Siddipet seat in the byelections to the two Assembly constituencies.

Belying expectations, Khan defeated Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidates to win back the Asifnagar seat for his party after a decade.

The Asifnagar constituency in the city had witnessed high-voltage campaign by Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and former Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu for the bypoll.

Congress candidate Nagendar, who won the seat on a TDP ticket during the Assembly elections earlier this year, had resigned the seat and also from the membership of the TDP to join the Congress, necessitating the bypoll.

The TDP termed him a betrayer and urged the people to ensure his defeat.

On the other hand, the Chief Minister took the poll as a personal issue as it was at his instance that the Congress condoned Nagender's defection and offered him the ticket for the bypoll.

While Nagendar polled 23,609 votes, Mouzam Khan got 25,719 votes.

TDP's Aravinda Kumar Goud came in third, polling 18,758 votes.

Meanwhile, the TRS managed to retain the Siddipet seat, byelection to which was made necessary after party supremo and Union Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao vacated the seat in favour of the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat after he won both seats in the elections held in April.

While TRS candidate and state Youth Services Minister T Harish Rao polled 84,374 votes, his nearest rival, TDP candidate Muthyam Reddy polled 39,547 votes.

Chandrasekhara Rao had won the seat in the general election with a margin of 46,000 votes.

Kalam's 'Luminous Sparks' released BANGALORE, Oct 16 (UNI): 'The Luminous Sparks', a compilation of selected poems and biographical notes by President A P J Abdul Kalam, was released here by eminent space scientist and former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman U R Rao.

At the book reading session, arranged to mark its release yesterday, Dr Rao described Dr Kalam as 'a born man manager'.

Dr Rao, who was associated with Dr Kalam for almost 40 years, noted that the writings were heartfelt and reflected the craving of a scientitst to improve the lives of fellow beings the world over.

Turning nostalgic, Dr Rao described the scientist side of the President.

'Luminous Sparks' was brought out by Punya publishing and conceptualised by Dr Poonam S Kohli, an experienced publisher.

Designed in the format of a coffee table book, the poems and biographical notes are accompanied by thought provoking visuals and artistic impressions as perceived by well known artists like Paresh Hazra, Chandranath Acharya and GJ Jadav.

The poems and notes were presented as a panorama of incidents from Dr Kalam's childhood, his life as a scientist and down to the present.

The President during his two-day visit to Karnataka this week had a glimpse of the book at the Raj Bhavan.

Despite food surplus, India has 25 pc of world's hungry: UNWFP NEW DELHI, Oct 16 (UNI): The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) today marked the World Food Day expressing serious concern that despite considerable food surpluses, India is still home to nearly 25 per cent of the world's hungry population.

The UNWFP said that after seeing a decline of 20 million hungry people between 1990-97, there has actually been an increase of the same number from 1998-2001.

UNWFP offices around the world are today calling for a new focus on the "routine hungry", the people left without enough food, not because of natural disasters or conflict, but simply because they are too poor to provide for themselves and their families.

These people "who make up more than 90 per cent of the world's hungry" are hit even harder when high-profile emergencies take up the bulk of donor aid budgets.

Recalling the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) adopted by the UN General Assembly "to halve the number of hungry people in the world by 2015" UNWFP Executive Director James Morris noted that the number of hungry people outside China had actually gone up since the MDGs were adopted, while the volume of food aid had fallen from 15 million tonnes worldwide in 1999 to 10 million tonnes in 2003.

"We can break this spiral," Morris said in a statement and added "There is already enough food in the world for everyone.

It's a question of will and determination, not just on World Food Day, but tomorrow, the next day and over the years to come." UNWFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency.

In 2003 it gave food aid to a record 104 million people in 81 countries, including 56 million hungry children.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UNWFP celebrate World Food Day on October 16 every year in commemoration of its founding on that day in Quebec City, Canada.

The theme for World Food Day for 2004 is "Biodiversity for Food Security." It will highlight biodiversity's role in ensuring that people have sustainable access to enough high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives.