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Bollywood star Suniel Shetty feels Congress MP Rahul Gandhi should step in to save the sport from the “doldrums”.

“Only Rahul Gandhi with his initiative and youth power can rescue hockey from the doldrums. Otherwise the game is doomed,” Suniel told IANS.

Suniel intends to request Rahul Gandhi to bring a sense of direction to the game.

The fiasco on Saturday at the sports event hosted in Chandigarh by the AMR Sports Foundation, where the national hockey players apparently asked for Rs.500 million at the eleventh hour to play at the event, has not left Suniel disillusioned or discouraged.

“See, what happened in Chandirgarh was really sad. I don’t know what happened between the event’s organisers and our boys from the national hockey team. If they really asked for the money, then they shouldn’t have.

“But think of it from their point of view. Hockey players in our country are still so underpaid. They’re under so much pressure from their family to give up hockey and do something more paying. How long can our players withstand the financial pressure?”

The sports event at Chandigarh was touted as the ultimate teaser before the World Cup matches, but ended up being a damp squib. Dharmendra and his sons, Sunny and Bobby Deol, were shooting in Patiala and were expected to attend, cancelled at the last minute.

“It was not Dharamji’s fault at all. He was all set to travel from Patiala to Chandigarh when the organisers informed him not to come because of the chaos that happened over the money the hockey players demanded. I was also told not to come. But I didn’t listen. And I’m glad I went. There were 30,000 expectant people in the stadium at Chandigarh,” said Suniel.

He feels every sport in the country barring cricket is in a shoddy condition.

“Look at the way our world-class sport persons like Abhinav Bhindra are treated. It’s a shame. We really need to respect sports and sportsmen other than cricket. We keep forgetting we have a Hockey World Cup coming up. And we cannot allow our hockey players to be demoralised in this way. Like I said, we need Rahul Gandhi to step in,” said Suniel.

Lucknow: Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is upset over Dalit Drama in Uttar Pradesh. Though, he inspired party leaders for such move, but he’s reportedly upset on this issue.

It’s being said that party would be setting some guidelines on the matter.

There were media reports which suggested that Congress president Sonia Gandhi was upset with the developments. However, Congress refused comment on Ms Gandhi’s reaction.

A swarm of UP leaders descended on Dalit settlements across UP on Gandhi Jayanti in bid to emulate Mr Gandhi.

But, unlike the Congress general secretary who sticks to the rudimentary fare available at Dalit homes, several of his footsoldiers made sure they were not short of any amenities or conveniences.

Some, accompanied by big bands of supporters, went to the extent of hiring their own cooks, bringing food supplies and even disposable plates to dinner.

New Delhi: With all the ministers now showing their support for the austerity drive, Congress General secretary Rahul Gandhi also chose to travel by Swarn Shatabdi Express from Ludhiana.

The train was hit by stones, however Rahul was unhurt and reached Delhi safely on Tuesday night.

The trained was stoned at around 9:45 pm between Karnal and Panipat stations in Haryana. Coaches C-2, C-4 and C-7 were hit in the stone attack. Rahul was seated in coach C-3 of the same.

For security reasons, the Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel accompanying Rahul Gandhi directed railway authorities not to stop the train at Panipat junction.

In his patent white kurta pyjama, Rahul Gandhi looked calm and composed with the incident.

A lady passenger of the train said, ‘It is very unfortunate, it (stone throwing) should not happened.”

Rattled by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s open overtures to Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, UPA partner leaders Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan Tuesday voiced their unhappiness over the move.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi lauding Nitish Kumar for the developmental work done in the state, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad made no attempt to hide his ire. He told reporters: “Nitish koi achha kaam nahi kiya hai (Nitish has not done any good work).”

He added, “Neither is the Congress ours nor are we in Congress.”

Lok Janshakti Party leader and Bihar leader Ram Vilas Paswan too made apparent his irritation at the Congress general secretary’s speech. “If Nitish has done good work, then why has the Congress pitched its candidates against him? Kya bolte hain Rahul? (What is Rahul talking about).”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Arun Jaitley, asked for his reaction to the Congress wooing a National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner, said Rahul Gandhi is “hallucinating”.

To a question whether his party was nervous at the prospect of losing Nitish Kumar to the Congress, Jaitley said: “Where is the question of being nervous? He (Rahul Gandhi) is hallucinating. Nitish is an integral part of the NDA.”

Jaitley continued: “They (Congress) have sensed defeat and hence they are making such comments. They can unilaterally keep making decisions, despite Nitish rebuffing him.”

Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in New Delhi Tuesday morning praised the work done by Nitish Kumar and also made overtures towards Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Chandrababu Naidu.

“Chandrababu Naidu did a reasonably good job (as Andhra Pradesh chief minister). He focussed on Hyderabad, he went on the wrong bend perhaps, but I respect him,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi said some leaders in the opposition had also done good work in their states, “Nitish (Kumar), for example”.

Rahul Gandhi’s praise of Nitish Kumar comes a few days after Congress leader and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said in a television interview that there was a possibility of Nitish Kumar switching over to the United Progressive Alliance after the polls.

Taking the steam out of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP)campaign on black money, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said he “agreed” and suggested that all parties work together to get back the money stashed in foreign banks.

“I agree with (BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K.) Advani on the money in Swiss banks. It (black money) has been there for 60 years. Why don’t we work together to get the money back? Why such ridiculous questions of how much money is there. We agree with the problem,” Rahul Gandhi said at a press conference here.

Advani has made black money a major election issue and unveiled a 100-day plan to bring back the money hoarded in Sweden and 70 other tax havens. According to the BJP, over Rs.70 trillion has been stashed abroad by various individuals.

“We waste a lot of time sitting on these television programmes and dicussing how much money is there in the Swiss banks.

“Whether there is Rs.100 or Rs.101 in the Swiss banks, we know there are billions of rupees. So lets work together to bring it back,” he said.

The Supreme Court is hearing a lawsuit filed by former union law minister Ram Jethmalani and others on the matter. The union government has filed an affidavit in the court terming the lawsuit politically motivated with the elections in mind and said it was doing everything to retrieve the money.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Tuesday reiterated that Manmohan Singh will be the party-led UPA’s prime ministerial candidate post Election 2009 as he is the best man for the post.

“Manmohan Singh is a dynamic person. He has done tremendous things for the country. Manmohan Singh is the best prime minister the country can have,” Rahul Gandhi said at a press conference here.

“My personal view is that he is the best prime minister for the country. Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) is also of this view. In general, if we think something is good for the country, we go for it. We thought the nuclear deal was good, we got that done. Now we think Manomohan is the best,” Rahul Gandhi said, adding that the party would not compromise on the issue.

His remarks come a day after Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said the party would not “guarantee” Manmohan Singh being the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) prime ministerial candidate post the elections, and the alliance partners would deliberate on the issue if it forms the next government.

Rahul Gandhi also said the Congress party has been campaigning hard for the last 30 days and its leadership feels the party will win the elections.

“We don’t think we will sit in the opposition. We think we will win this election,” he added.

Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rahul Gandhi said: “For them it has been a search for issues. Everyday they bring forward a new issue, none of which are central issues. The BJP is going to sit in the opposition.”

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said his party had ideological differences with the Left parties but was confident of their support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the post poll scenario.

Stating that the “field is open” for post-poll alliances, Rahul Gandhi said: “We will do better than last time. And I am confident that the Left will support Manmohan Singh”.

He added that the Congress too would support the Left if such a scenario were to unfold.

“If the Left gets 180-190 seats, we will support them. If they achieve that, then I will be the first one to say that we will support them.”

Though the Congress had differences with the Left there were some meeting points, he said at a press conference here.

“I will speak personally. I do say that the Left has old ideas. Left’s views towards something like the nuclear deal is 20-30 years old. On a lot of counts they have to accept that the world has changed and slowly they will be forced to accept that. We feel that there are ideological differences between Congress and the Left,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“They (Left) say that they don’t need integration. They support us in the Rozgaar Yojana, but the fundamental question is- where does the money for the Yojana come from? It comes from the nine percent growth.

“On a lot of concepts we agree with the Left. They say education and health is important and the poor needs to br looked after and we agree with that,” he said.

Expressing confidence that his party would win the elections, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Tuesday said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) “was finished” and existed “only in the mind”.

“The NDA is finished and has lost its fight. It’s finished all over the country and only exists in the mind,” Rahul Gandhi said at a press conference in the capital.

“The fight has gone out of them and they are raising new issues every three to four days. There are no central issues.”

A confident Rahul Gandhi also declared that his party would win the elections and the undercurrents this time were more positive than the 2004 polls.

“We do not think we will sit in the opposition. We will win the elections,” he said.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati here Monday hit out at Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, saying that by merely sleeping in the house of Dalits or having food with them, their poverty would not be removed.

Hitting out at the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their allies, Mayawati at a rally in here said the Congress ruled the country for 40 of the 61 years since independence and yet did nothing for the country. Whereas, the BSP had ruled the state for just four years and brought about a lot of visible improvement in the condition of the poor and the Dalits.

Accusing the Congress of meting out step-motherly treatment to the state, Mayawati said: “It is for the same reason that the Congress party had not given us Rs.80,000 crore that we had demanded for the development of the state.”

Addressing the rally in support of party candidate Amarpal Sharma, Mayawati said: “We would root out terrorism if the BSP comes to the centre. The poor and downtrodden of the country would be given fair opportunities to develop. The rights of Indians settled abroad would also be protected.”

Mayawati appealed to the voters to elevate her to the centre and make her the prime minster of the country. She said that while Manmohan Singh belonged to Punjab, L.K. Advani is from Gujarat. “What justice you can expect from them? Elect a representative from your own state,” she said.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Monday ridiculed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ‘India Shinning’ campaign during the 2004 elections saying the party coined the slogan in English “as it was not meant for the poor and the backward classes”.

Addressing an election rally here, Gandhi said: “Their India Shining campaign is an example of their anti-poor, anti-farmer ideology. The houses of the poor and Dalits were not shining. India was shinning for a few people.”

A press release from the Congress party also quoted him as saying that 60 years ago there were not many rich people in the country and added that “it was the poor people of India who fought for independence”.

“But now our opposition tries to keep them (the poor) out of the development process,” Gandhi said. The Congress leader was referring to BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) election slogan during the 2004 elections, which sought to claim that India was shining because of the efforts of the party’s rule.

He also claimed that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) worked for the uplift of the poor and always heard the “voice of the aam aadmi (common man)”. “In our view if India has to move forward, every section has to move forward,” he said and elaborated on the various programmes launched by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, like the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and the loan waiver for farmers.