Mumbai, Sep 19(ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena on Saturday expressed confidence about emerging victorious in the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.
“It is 45 years since Shiv Sena came into being. And this first day of Navaratri happens to be a red-letter day in the history of Shiv Sena that has crusaded for the cause of Samyukta (unified) Maharashtra. Considering all these aspects, I feel it is an auspicious timing (of) declaring the seat arrangement and we are confident of our combine emerging victorious,” said Uddhav Thackeray, Executive President of Shiv Sena party.
Leaders of both the parties confirmed that there was no bargaining for seats between the two allies.
“Today, is the first day of Dussera and we have arrived at the figures of seat sharing. Yes, it is 169 and 119. The 169 in favour of Shiv Sena and 119 for BJP and it will be interesting to note that both the figures end in 9, a lucky number; 169 and 119. And now onwards we will work on joint strategy. There is no clash of interests and now onwards we will devote to the selection of suitable candidates,” said Gopinath Munde, senior BJP leader.
In the 2004 elections, Shiv Sena had contested for 171 seats while BJP had contested for 117 and jointly they had bagged 119 seats in the legislative house of 289 members.
The alliance of Congress and regional National Congress Party (NCP) had emerged victorious in the 2004 polls. (ANI)
High-priced hooker’s mum dismayed over ex-NY Guv Spitzer’s comeback moves
New York, Sep.2 (ANI): The mother of the high-priced hooker who famously serviced former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has expressed dismay over reports that he may consider running for office again less than two years after the sordid sex scandal.
“Only in America,” Ashley Dupre’s mom, Carolyn Capalbo, told The New York Post.
While Spitzer is discussing the possibility of a run next year, Dupre-who was 22 when the self-described “steamroller” of Albany paid to play with her-is struggling to get back on her feet, said Capalbo.
“I really can’t blame him, but at the same time, my daughter’s having a rough go,” she said at the beach, near her home in Wall. “I can imagine she’s not happy about it.”
“He has more credibility than a 22-year-old,” Ashley’s mom said in disbelief.
Capalbo said her daughter had turned down lucrative offers to make a buck off of the scandal, including posing for nude magazines.
Less than 18 months after he left Albany in a prostitution scandal, Spitzer has held informal discussions in recent weeks about the possibility of making a bid for state comptroller or the US Senate seat currently held by Kirsten Gillibrand, sources said.
The hooker-happy Democrat has also discussed his own halfway-decent poll numbers in recent surveys, which have shown him more popular than Gov. Paterson, whose own numbers have tanked.
“He”s weighing it,” said one source.
But Spitzer hasn”t shown any interest in campaigning for the office he briefly held, sources said.
The sources stressed that Spitzer, who also served two terms as state attorney general before his landslide election as governor in 2006, has not engaged in any active discussions with political consultants.
Reached at his father”s real-estate firm, where he has been working since he resigned as governor last spring, Spitzer declined comment.
But a source close to him insisted, “It”s not true,” and two other close associates also insisted he was not interested in running for office again and was looking at a range of other options.
Spitzer quit in disgrace in March 2008 after he was unmasked in Manhattan federal court as “Client 9″ in a prostitution bust involving a major call-girl ring. He was revealed to have paid 4,300 dollars for a romp with escort Ashley Dupre, then 22. (ANI)