BJP today made light of Rahul Gandhi's roadshow here saying there is no "personal fight" between him and Narendra Modi and both had the right to campaign for their candidates.        

"I don't think Rahul Gandhi has come here personally to defeat Modi and it is his right to campaign for Congress candidate and Modi had also gone to Amethi for campaigning for BJP candidate there," senior party leader Amit Shah said.        

Modi had campaigned for BJP candidate Smriti Irani ahead of polls in Amethi, from where Rahul Gandhi is in fray '" thus breaking an informal code of top BJP leaders staying away from the Gandhi bastion.        

Therefore, Rahul's massive roadshow today in Varanasi is being seen as a retaliation measure on the part of the Congress.        

However, the BJP's general secretary reiterated party's demand for removal of returning officer of Varanasi for denying permission to a Modi rally two days ago.

Our correspondent in New Delhi reports: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh portraits are being removed from many of the ministers' chambers in New Delhi. Interestingly the photo of President Pranab Mukherjee alone is seen in these premises.  

And that's not all -- the official cars, personal assistants of many ministers are also being surrendered.   It's an almost pack-up time for the UPA II government and is evident in the corridors of Bhavans and Blocks of the Union government in New Delhi.    

Our correspondent reports from New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath met President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday and shared his concern with Rashtrapathi  Bhawan about the state of  affairs in the Election Commission.  

Anxiety is all about the out of turn talks by H S Brahma, the number two in the Election Commission. Should Election Commission apologise on the deletion of three lakh voters in Maharashtra? Should Brahma go public on this? Does it not reflect bad image of the full bench of Election Commission? These are certain pains of Sampath.  

In the midst of poll campaign Sampath done the best by driving to Raisina Hills to unburden his agonies.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said Sri Lanka is in the process of implementing all demands made by the sponsors of the UNHRC resolution against it except for allowing an international probe into alleged human rights violations during the last phase of the war with the LTTE.        

The assertion was made by the Sri Lankan President during a meeting yesterday with Seiji Kihara, Japan's Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs.         Rajapaka told the Japanese Minister, "Please tell this truth to rest of the world. Except for an international inquiry we are in the process of implementing all other demands made by sponsors of the resolution."        

The President's office quoted Kihara as saying that the UNHRC resolution was unhelpful to Sri Lanka. "We considered whether the Resolution on Sri Lanka moved in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva would help Sri Lanka. We decided it will not. That is why we abstained when the vote was taken," Kihara was quoted as saying.

The heart of Varanasi has now been taken over by hundreds of workers of the ruling Samajwadi Party, as UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is set to arrive for a roadshow any time now.  

Rahul Gandhi's roadshow passed through the same areas earlier in the day.

Repolling in two polling stations and polling in one booth was being held today in Longleng and Zunheboto districts of Nagaland today. Polling was being conducted at Ladaigarh Polling Station No 1(one) in Longleng district as people could not cast their votes due to "forcible occupation" of the polling station at Ladaigarh Government LP School allegedly by Assam police on April 9.      Polling was arranged at Piching Nullah area in the village for the day, Returning Officer Temjen Toy said.     

Senior civil and police officials are camping in the area to oversee the conduct of the poll. Adequate security has also been arranged in case of any eventuality, election office sources said.     

So it was noticeable this week, on the day voters went to the polls in Amethi, that Mr. Pandey's face set into a cold mask when he was asked whether he would be voting for Rahul Gandhi, who is running for the third time in this constituency. Mr. Pandey pointed at the pools of stagnant, trash-clogged water that stand on the city's main street, and the men gathered around him chimed in with their own complaints until it was difficult to hear anyone at all.  

"Amethi '" what it was 30 years back, it is stuck in a time warp, and remains the same,' Mr. Pandey said. Asked about the political magic associated with the Nehru-Gandhi family, he grimaced. "We are just flowing along with the feeling that two of them have given their lives to the country, so we will give our votes back to them,' he said. "We want a change.'  

Read Ellen Barry's piece on The New York Times

The BJP today slammed the Election Commission for allowing Rahul Gandhi's roadshow at an area in Varanasi where its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, had been refused permission for a rally.

As the Congress vice president's motorcade negotiated the narrow roads of Varanasi in a revenge roadshow in the city from where Mr Modi is contesting his first parliamentary election, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley renewed his attack on the Election Commission.

"The Election Commission should take note of this reality. Rahul's roadshow is going through Beniabagh, where Mr Modi was not allowed to hold a rally. Security restrictions exist only for the BJP, not for the others? This proves we were not allowed to hold a rally only for political reasons," Mr Jaitley said, adding, "This will be a major blot on elections in India. The Prime Ministerial candidate was not allowed to campaign in his own constituency."

Read more on NDTV

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's road show in Varanasi has just begun. Hundreds of supporters, accompanied by senior leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, have come together at Gol Gadda area from where the leader began his 11 km-long journey.  

Rahul Gandhi is campaigning for Congress candidate Ajai Rai.   His rally is also seen as a message to BJP's PM nominee Narendra Modi as rthe latter is contesting from Varanasi.

A few days back, Modi campaigned in Rahul Gandhi's constituency Amethi where he attracted a good crowd.   Today is the last day of campaigning in Varanasi which will go for polls on May 12.

• Differences between us? No, we are a team: EC