Talking to reporters at Myana village in this district, Mr Scinida alleged that the BJP was misusing government machinary during the bypoll. However, the Congress will win from the two seats.

He said public was fed up with the failure of the BJP Government to fulfill its promises. Government employees were waiting for the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, while farmers had got no relief.

Under such circumstances, public would be inclined towards the Congress.
He expected the government to take measures to protect soybean crops being affected due to less rainfall and pests and provide appropriate compensation to peasants.

After innumerable rounds of intense discussions over the past few days, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new government was finally unveiled today. Besides the 19 ministers who were inducted last Friday, the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi finalised an additional list of 14 ministers, seven ministers of state with independent charge and 38 ministers of state, who will be sworn in tomorrow morning at the Rashtrapati Bhavan's Ashoka Hall.

Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi personally called up each of them to inform them about their inclusion in the ministry.

The magnum 79-member strong council of ministers of the new UPA government includes 19 members from the allies- seven each from the DMK and the Trinamul Congress, three from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and one each from the National Conference and the Muslim League. The portfolios will be announced tomorrow.<center>
Image Source: TOI</center>

While the PM and Sonia Gandhi had little say in the selection of the ministers from outside their own party, the duo had to ensure that the list of Congress nominees gave adequate representation to different castes and regions, while keeping a firm eye on competence and accountability. Despite the painstaking exercise undertaken by them, which took several days to complete, there have been several surprise inclusions and exclusions resulting in rumblings in the Congress.<center>
Image Source: Indian Express</center>

Three Cabinet rank ministers and one minister of state represent Karnataka, which notched up a poor tally of six seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections. While former Chief Minister SM Krishna and Veerappa Moily were inducted last week, senior Dalit leader Mallikarjun Kharge was given a ministerial berth while fellow Kannidiga KH Muniyappa was named junior minister today.

Similarly, the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress managed to win only one seat, has bagged two Cabinet berths for Anand Sharma and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. In addition to Ambika Soni, Punjab's Preneet Kaur was made a junior minister today while Pawan Kumar Bansal, Chandigarh MP and a minister of state in the outgoing government, was upgraded to Cabinet rank.

In a sharp contrast, Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress outdid itself by winning 21 seats, has no representation in the Cabinet. Salman Khursheed and Sriprakash Jaiswal have made the grade as ministers of state with independent charge while Jitin Prasada, RPN Singh and Pradeep Jain are only ministers of state. The absence of a Muslim face from the Hindi heartland in the Cabinet is particularly glaring, especially since the minorities had shown a marked preference for the Congress in these states in the recent elections. While Khursheed is the only Muslim face from UP, the only other Muslim from the Congress in the council of ministers is Ghulam Nabi Azad.

For a Prime Minister who puts so many premiums on the good governance, former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's appointment as a Cabinet minister has raised many eyebrows. Deshmukh was asked to step down as CM last year after the 26/11-terror attack in Mumbai because of his poor handling of the situation. The only explanation offered for Deshmukh's speedy rehabilitation, when he is not even a member of the either House of Parliament, is that the Congress wants a Maratha leader at the Centre to counter NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Also, Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra later this year. Women have found adequate representation in the new UPA dispensation. While Ambika Soni, Meira Kumar and Mamta Bannerjee were among the 19 ministers who were sworn last Friday, today's list includes Selja, who has been promoted as a Cabinet minister, Krishna Tirath (Minister of state with independent charge), D. Purandeshwari, Panabaka Lakshmi and Perneet Kaur have been named junior ministers.

While experienced hands have been given their due, there are a large number of new and young faces in the council of ministers. Among the young Turks, Jitin Prasada and Jyotiradiya Scindia have come back for a second stint as junior ministers while Sachin Pilot, RPN Singh as well as Bharatsinh Solanki and Tusharbhai Chaudhary are among the newcomers.

Although, it was being said no first timers would be given a ministerial berth, an exception has been made in the case of Shashi Tharoor, a former UN diplomat, who debuted as an MP in these elections.

A big omission in today's list is former law minister HR Bharadwaj.

Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, A K Antony, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khursheed, Prakash Jaiswal, Ms Meira Kumar, Jaipal Reddy, H R Bhardwaj, Sisram Ola, Veerappa Moily, Madhavsinh Solanki and Bijoy Krishna Handique are likely to find Cabinet berths, according to Congress party sources.

Allies seeking Cabinet portfolios are Mamata Banerjee and Somendra Nath Mitra from Trinamool Congress, Sharad Pawar, the NCP supremo, Farooq Abdullah of National Conference and Shibu Soren of JMM.

Other names doing rounds for the 65-member council of ministers from Congress are Murli Deora or his son Milind Deora, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Oscar Fernandes, Jitin Prasada, Jagdambika Pal, Mukul Wasnik,Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Kumari Selja, Naveen Jindal, Deepinder Hooda, Rao Inderjit Singh, Mahinder Singh Kaypee, Manish Tewari, Ms D Purandeswari, Suresh Kalmadi, Srikant Jena, Beni Prasad Verma, P L Punia, Mohammed Asarul Haque, Ms Anu Tandon, P C Chako, Meenakshi..

Natarjan, Gurudas Kamat, Ms Jyoti Mirdha, Ms Deep Dasmunsi, Virbhadra Singh, Subodh Kant Sahai,Bhakta Charan Das, Kanti Lal Bhuria, T K S Elangovan, Mallikarujan Kharge, Dharam Singh, Satpal Maharaj, Vijay Bahuguna, Dinsha Patel, A B Sayeed, Narayansamy, Ranee Narah, Dr Thockhom Meinya, Charan Das Mahant,Jagan Mohan Reddy, Aruna Kumar Vundavalli, Saifuddin Soz, and K Sambasiva Rao.

Probables among the allies are Praful Patel and Supriya Sule from NCP, Sultan Ahmed, Dinesh Trivedi and Sudip Bandhopadya from TMC, and Asaduddin Owaisi from AIMIM.

For the office of Speaker, Kishore Chandra Deo, Jaipal Reddy and Sushil Kumar Shinde are the front-runners.

The BJP's tally dropped from 24 to 16, with the party even losing Rewa to Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party - a seat the BSP last won in 1996.

GenNext leader Jyotiraditya Scindia won by a record margin of 2.5 lakh, for the third time in a row.

The results have come as a pleasant surprise for the Congress, given its lackluster campaign and the media forecast that the BJP would have a clean sweep in the state.

In contrast, the BJP is shocked by the results. Its methodical campaign, spirited campaigners and strategising right up to the booth stage have failed.

"The results are disappointing. That's all I can say for now," said a downcast Shivraj Singh, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. The mood at Singh's house on Saturday was remarkably sombre and in sharp contrast to the wild jubilation five months ago, when the BJP swept the Assembly elections.

They had a well-thought-out strategy: Deflect the blame for the power crisis in Madhya Pradesh with Justice Marches (Nyay Yatras) to highlight how the Centre was not allocating enough coal to the state. The Congress failed miserably in countering the allegations.

However, as the polling dates approached, the discrimination plank lost steam.

Then Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul arrived, touring the state and talking about the misuse of Central funds.

"The election meetings of Soniaji and Rahulji were the most important factor in the Congress's satisfactory show in this election in MP," said state party president S Pachouri.

Congress's Jyotiraditya Scindia says, "The BJP has a full stop post 185. Congress will emerge as the single largest party."

This is an optimism borne out of the realisation that the Left may just end up being forced to support a Congress-led government. The Congress is also hopeful of striking deals with AIADMK and BJD while bringing back old allies (LJP and RJD) which are now a part of the Fourth Front.

The BJP though is equally optimistic.

BJP Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad says, "The BJP's present allies and potential allies are doing well."

Already BJP's star campaigner, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is camping in the Capital - his brief to ensure that AIADMK support can be counted upon. Talks have already been initiated with BSP's Mayawati. The party hopes to be ahead of the Congress as early as May 17 in the hunt for allies. They have also not given up hope on bringing back Naveen Patnaik and the BJD into their fold.

But it's the Third Front that has the most to be worried. A picture of Kumaraswamy hiding his face while going to meet Sonia Gandhi secretly dealt a body blow to the Third Front as well as Jayalalithaa making it clear that she is keeping all options open.

All of this is leading to an edge of the seat thriller, which will build into a climax on May 16.

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"Congress will emerge stronger after May 16. Manmohan Singh will be the next prime minister. Post polls we will talk with the parties," said Scindia.

"I have toured 14 Lok Sabha constituencies... not only my constituency," he said.

Pointing out that his father late Madhavrao Scindia was his ideal, the young Congress leader said, "I do not want to shed my father's tag. My father is my ideal."

"My election is a day when people give me blessing. My commitment for the people is for a period of five years," he added.

He will win, say supporters of the Gwalior royal.

In Guna, a constituency of a little over 11 lakh voters where the name Scindia arouses instant veneration, victory is perhaps not in doubt for the Harvard-educated 38-year-old.

What is being talked about rather is the tougher-than-expected fight the Congress candidate is facing from workers of the party founded by Uma, the village girl his late grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia had picked, impressed by her knowledge of the epics and leadership potential.

Uma, who has declared her support for L.K. Advani, hasn't campaigned here personally. But the local BJP in Shivpuri, a town in Guna, has been buoyed by the efforts being put in by cadres of the Bharatiya Jana Shakti Party, the outfit the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister floated after her expulsion from the BJP for rebelling against the brass.

"It's not a question of how much influence Umaji's party has here. The very efforts of her party workers show we are giving a fight," says Om Prakash Gupta, BJP candidate Narottam Mishra's campaign in-charge.

While Guna legislator Rajendra Singh Saluja belongs to Uma's party, BJP big guns like party chief Rajnath Singh, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan have all campaigned for Mishra, a five-time MLA.

No one here in Guna -- where Jyotiraditya's late father Madhavrao Scindia made it a habit of winning -- dares to call it a close fight. But as he leaves Bombay Kothi, the summer palace of the Scindias, Jyotiraditya says "no one takes elections lightly".

Source: The Telegraph Uma can't rob Scindia of sleep

What lessons has the Congress learnt from the November Assembly election reverses and how do you see the Lok Sabha polls?
Without doubt our performance in the Assembly elections was dismal but it was less about the Bharatiya Janata Party doing better and more about us unable to tell the people about the failure of the BJP government in the State and our priorities.

Was internal fighting and factionalism a major cause?
It is always easy to catch a low-hanging fruit. I am not saying there is no infighting but that is not the only reason; there are many other reasons. The verdict has to be accepted. We have to regroup and re-strategise. In the Lok Sabha election, we are expecting much better results. As for numbers I am not predicting how many we will get.

The Bahujan Samaj Party played a spoiler for the Congress in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election in many places. What about this election?
The BSP managed to get a sizeable chunk of votes in the Assembly election. In many constituencies, the party fielded candidates who were not picked by the Congress. The BSP is not a factor in the Lok Sabha and unlike the Assembly, it has one candidate to work in eight Assembly segments.

So where do you see the BSP vote going?
The Scheduled Caste vote is coming back to the Congress in a big way. They have realised the Congress and the Centre have evolved and implemented policies for the benefit of the disadvantaged sections of society.

You had an early start, but how do you see the role of youth in politics?
The youth has a tremendous role in shaping the destiny. If you look at the history of the world -- Babar, Alexander, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton or Rajiv Gandhi -- change has been shaped by the youth. I feel India is witnessing a twin change, democratic and demographic. Today, some 70 per cent of the 700 million or so voters are under the age of 35. We have a huge opportunity to channelise this to build our economy.

Any thoughts on the controversial remarks by Varun Gandhi?
It is very sad when a young educated person tries to fracture the real strength of our [pluralistic] society. It is the gravest source of unhappiness when modern and educated persons talk like that.

Mr Scindia fought from Guna constituency first time in 2002 Lok Sabha bypoll that were necessitated after the untimely demise of senior Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia in which the Scindia scion tasted the victory by a huge margin.
The Congress candidate contested from this constituency and emerged out victorious in 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

Now, Mr Scindia is again in the fray against Mr Mishra, who is among one of the BJP's influential minister and won the last assembly election from Dabra.

Their job is to ensure defeat of close relatives contesting against the Congress and disprove the whispers that for them, blood is proving thicker than party bonds. The Congress leadership is watching.<center></center>
Arjun's assignment is the trickiest: he has to visit Sidhi on Tuesday and campaign against daughter Veena who is seeking votes in his name, albeit as an Independent.

But the Union minister, who had publicly expressed "disappointment" when Veena was denied a Congress ticket, on Monday criticised the party again for the way it had rewarded his "loyalty".

Asked in a TV interview if he felt slighted, Arjun said he did not feel slighted but shocked. "I am shocked by what is in store for loyalty. Honour and humiliation have ceased to be concepts in the Congress party," he said.

Reacting to this, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said: "The philosophy of the party has its own rewards. I believe (that) working for the party and believing in its philosophy and principles have their own rewards."

Arjun's wife has already reached Sidhi to side with her daughter. Party leaders said Saroj Singh -- "Rani Sahiba" to local people -- wielded considerable political clout and her presence in Sidhi would hit Congress prospects badly.

"Most local leaders in Sidhi are first loyal to Arjun and his family, and then to the Congress," a state Congress official said.

The Congress is alarmed at reports that dozens of local party workers are secretly working for Veena, locally addressed as "Didda Saheb", while ostensibly supporting the official Congress nominee, Inderjeet Patel.

Arjun will address rallies against Veena in hometown Churhat and other parts of Sidhi on Tuesday, the last day of campaigning before the April 23 vote.

Congress general secretary Digvijay is in Rajgarh to plot the defeat of younger brother Laxman Singh, who is seeking a fifth term as MP.

This is the second time that "Chunnu Raja" is contesting on a BJP ticket, much against the wishes of his elder brother, "Munnu Raja". Only a handful of Digvijay's loyalists predict defeat for Laxman, who is pitted against the Congress's Narain Singh. Narain, going by his affidavit, seems terribly short of money.

He says he owns 22 cows, four buffaloes and a bullock cart but has no shares, debentures or bonds. The balance amounts in his two Bank of India accounts are Rs 305 and Rs 1,307.

Jyotiraditya, Union minister of state for telecom, is shuttling between his own parliamentary seat of Guna and hometown Gwalior, where aunt Yashodhara Raje Scindia is the BJP candidate.

.The entire Gwalior campaign is pivoted on the question of who is the true inheritor of the Scindia legacy. Yashodhara, the sitting MP, is invoking the legacy of her mother, Rajmata Scindia, who was a founder member of the BJP.

Source: The Telegraph FAMILY CONCERN