Delhi goes colourful on Holi

New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) Indian festival of colours,
Holi, brought with it a spirit of cheer and festivity with
revellers crowding the streets of the capital splashing colour
and singing along to the accompaniment of drums.

Children and grown ups gleefully sprayed coloured
water and smeared others in all the colours of the rainbow on
the occasion of Holi.

Water-filled balloons were hurled down from rooftops
and balconies accompanied by chants of 'Holi Hai!' renting the
air.

Relatives and friends visited houses and hugged each
other wishing "Happy Holi" besides exchanging sweets.

Musical programmes were held at many places to mark
the festival which heralds the advent of summer.

Colourful Rangoli patterns were drawn at the entrance
of houses as special delicacies, varying from region to
region, were cooked to celebrate the occasion.

City policemen were seen to be on vigil at most
traffic points and even neighbourhood patrols were on to avoid
any unpleasant incident.

In Delhi, senior political leaders avoided celebrations
in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes.

Bharatiya Janata Party's prime-ministerial candidate L K
Advani had earlier declared that he would not participate in
Holi due the Mumbai attacks while BJP senior leader Atal
Behari Vajpayee also relented from the celebrations citing
ill-health.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief Sonia Gandhi
greeted her party workers with a Holi SMS while party workers
were seen celebrating among themselves outside the AICC
office.

Gandhi was later seen making a public appearance and
applying gulal to school children. PTI DEY
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Naveen wins trust vote amidst uproar in state assembly

Bhubaneswar, Mar 11 (PTI) Amidst uproarious scenes, the
Chief Minister of eastern Indian state of Orissa, Naveen
Patnaik, Wednesday won the vote of confidence in the state
assembly by voice vote as Opposition staged a walk-out terming
the exercise as "murder of democracy".

Strongly protesting the passage of the trust motion moved
by the Chief Minister by voice vote "all of a sudden", members
of Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) walked out of the
house demanding division of votes on the crucial trial of
strength.

The trust motion, moved in a special assembly session
four days after BJP withdrew support to Naveen government
following the collapse of BJD-BJP alliance over seat sharing
in coming Lok Sabha polls, was passed in barely two hours of
the proceedings.

Moving the motion, Patnaik said he enjoyed the support of
more than 74 legislators in the 147-member assembly and was
facing the floor test as directed by Governor M C Bhandare.

Terming the passage of the motion as "murder of
democracy", Leader of BJP legislator party Biswabhushan
Harichandan said his party wanted a division of votes but the
whole exercise was handled in a hurried manner.

Congress deputy leader Narasingha Mishra said his party
leaders, who were keen on division, would meet the Governor
with their grievances.

Refuting the opposition charges, the Chief Minister
told reporters after adjournment of the House that when he
moved the motion of confidence, the opposition took exception
to the exercise saying it violated the model code of conduct
since the state is in an election mode.

"When the motion was put to vote, none had asked for
division. Therefore, the motion was passed by a voice vote,"
Patnaik said.

Expressing similar views, Biju Janata Dal's Chief Whip
Bikram Arukh said, opposition parties never sought division as
they were busy countering the confidence motion moved by the
Chief Minister.

He claimed that BJD government would have sailed through
comfortably even in the event of a division as it had the
support of at least 81 MLAs. PTI AAM
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