Maya joins Sonia in Forbes power list

Making her debut in the club of the 100 most powerful women in the world, Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati has joined Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a list compiled by US business magazine Forbes.

While Mrs Gandhi slipped from sixth rank in 2007 to 21st this year, Ms Mayawati has made her debut at 59th. The list also includes Indra Nooyi, the Indian-origin Chennai-born chief of global soft drink giant PepsiCo, at third position, up from fifth last year, and Indian biotechnology firm Biocon CEO Kiran Mazumdar Shaw at 99th.

The list is headed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

About Mrs Gandhi, the magazine said the Italian born leader of India’s most powerful political party has by now assumed the role of elder stateswoman. “Although she remains firmly at the head of the country’s ruling party, a rising star, known by the single name Mayawati, is challenging Gandhi’s position as the country’s most powerful woman.”

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Maya upsets brahmins, dalits rejoice

It has been more than 24 hours since the rally got over, but dalits in Uttar Pradesh have not stopped rejoicing.

Their apprehensions are over and their fears have been set to rest. Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati’s announcement on Saturday that her successor would be from the dalit community has scotched all speculation about the BSP being gradually taken over by upper castes, particularly brahmins.

“Dil ko bahut khushi hui ki dalit hi BSP to sambhalega. Ab koi caste aa jaye, humen koi dar nahin,” said Ram Sajhawan, a BSP worker from Jhansi. He and his co-workers were so “relieved and thrilled” with the BSP president’s announcement that they decided to extend their stay in the state capital by a day and visit dalit monuments like Parivartan Chowk and the still-under-renovation Ambedkar memorial.

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Land grab FIR on minister's son

The war bet ween the BSP and the Congress seems to be intensifying with the Mayawati government registering a case of land-grabbing against Siddhartha Jaiswal, son of Union minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal, in Kanpur.

Mr Siddhartha Jaiswal told reporters on Thursday that the cases against him were "baseless and politically motivated."

The Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) on Wednesday registered as many as 18 cases in various police stations of Kanpur against influential persons who have illegally grabbed land owned by the government.

Eight cases have been registered at the Chakeri police station, five at the Naubasta police station, two each at Maharajpur and Kalyanpur and one at the Bidhnoo police station.

The case against Mr Siddhartha Jaiswal has been registered at the Chakeri police station.

Chakeri's station house officer, Mr Krishna Govind Sharma, said: "Eleven people have been booked in the eight cases registered here.

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