UPA claims it has support of 291 MPs

New Delhi (PTI): With just two days to go for the trust vote in Lok Sabha, top UPA leaders on Saturday claimed that the combine had the support of 291 MPs and that JMM was "part and parcel" of the Congress-led coalition.

Union Ministers Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan claimed that the Congress-led coalition has the support of 291 MPs and "we will win the trust vote".

On JMM, Prasad said that the Shibu Soren-led party was "part and parcel of the UPA" and their MPs will vote for the country.

"This deal is in the interest of the nation and UPA has the support of 291 MPs," Lalu claimed and added "Mayawati is not so fortunate to become Prime Minister and Advaniji doesn't have it in his fortunes to become PM."

The Railways Minister said when Mulayam, Lalu and Paswan stand together "nothing can stop them from getting the majority."

Paswan said that the Left parties who had earlier "abused" the BJP have joined hands with the party and termed the opposition alliance as "opportunistic" one.

"There is no danger to UPA government and opposition has become an opportunistic alliance," Paswan said.

"The magic figure is 271 and Laluji said that we have the support of 291 MPs. We have identified 281 of the members who will support us. Remaining 10 will support us during trust vote," he said.

Criticising CPI leader A B Bardhan for termed all MPs as corrupt, Lalu said: "I want an answer from Prakash Karat that Somnath and Jyoti Basu had drawn a line over the issue, when senior leaders have such stand, then he should answer us on what basis they have termed MPs as corrupt," Lalu said.
Source : The Hindu dt 20 7 2008

Frenzy over Sai idol with one eye open

BANGALORE: Hundreds of people descended on a merchant's house in Bangalore on Friday to witness what they believe is a miracle - the Shirdi Sai Baba idol is purported to have opened its left eye.

The frenzy was such that police had to be called in to control the surging crowds.

After reports of Ganapati idols drinking milk and the recent story of a bleeding Christ, the Sai Baba 'miracle' too saw both the devout and the curious rushing to the house.

Door No. 7, Chitra Block, Gavipuram Guttahalli, which, till the other day, was a non-descript residence of phenol merchant Babu, suddenly turned into a pilgrimage centre.

With devotees queuing up to have a glimpse of the statue, the area wore a festive look with small-time traders trying to make a fast buck by selling prasadam and Baba's idols!

The devotee couple Babu (45) and his wife Lakshmi took the marble idol to clean on Wednesday evening to prepare for the Thursday puja.

The idol had some black mark on its left chin and the couple's son Dhrupad, who was cleaning the eye, suddenly felt some change in the idol - the eyelash seemed moving. The devotees were astounded and stopped the cleaning work.

On Thursday morning, they found the left eye of Baba had opened. Thursday being a day to worship Baba, the couple, along with their neighbours, performed puja.

The news flashed on Friday morning and by afternoon, the crowds multiplied.

"We had gone to Shirdi a year ago from where we bought this marble idol. It is a miracle that Baba opened his eye on Guru Poornima Day to give us darshan. It has been very difficult to control the crowd as people are queuing up to see the miracle. So we had to inform the police and arrange for bandobast," said Drupad, a II PU student.

There was also a huge flow of cash as the devotees put "dakshine" (cash offering to God) after the darshan. "I am a staunch Sai Baba devotee and never had witnessed such a miracle. The idol looked like as if Baba was looking at me...I cannot forget this day," said Swamy Narayan, a resident of Hanumanthanagar, with tears in his eyes.

Policemen from two stations - Kempe Gowdanagar and Hanumanthanagar - were deployed near the house along with Hoysala patrolling teams from Bangalore South. "More than 1,500 people had gathered and the crowd was maddening. Our concern was maintaining peace", he said.
Source: The times of india dt 19 7 2008