’84 riots: Congress vows action
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 29 — The draft manifesto of the Congress for the Delhi Assembly poll has committed itself to taking "appropriate action" against all those found guilty in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

"The Congress commits itself to taking appropriate action against all those held guilty," the draft manifesto says with reference to the riots which broke out in the wake of assassination of Indira Gandhi.

Expressing concern over the unprecedented spurt in incidents of murder, rape, theft, kidnapping and extortion, the party has promised a number of steps to improve the law and order situation in the Capital.

"No area, no section has felt secure during the five years of the BJP rule", it says adding that the spurt in incidents had put Delhi on top of the crime graph of the nation.

Detailing the steps to improve the situation, it says that civil defence committees would be reactivated, proposal for a special women police force would be taken up with the Centre to tackle crimes against women as also augmenting the police force in the Capital.

The draft manifesto notes that a major factor behind the growing insecurity has been the "confrontation" between the Chief Minister and the Police Commissioner. This state of affairs would be ended if the party was voted to power.

Promising good governance, the draft manifesto commits itself to providing a healthy, clean, transparent, efficient and responsive administration through a series of measures including the introduction of an administrative code.

On the issue of electricity and water, the draft manifesto says the Delhi PCC is acutely aware of the sufferings caused to citizens by the shortage of electric power supply and water.

"The BJP government’s criminal neglect of Delhi’s energy needs has rendered the Capital an area of darkness, a veritable haven for thieves and murderers’’ it says charging the BJP Government of not making any attempt to devise new power schemes.

Unveiling a multi-pronged strategy to tide over the problem, it promises replacement of outdated Indraprastha Thermal Plant by a new gas-based power plant and setting up of three Naphtha-based power plants with 50 to 100 MW capacity at Dwarka, Kondli Ghroli and Narela.

The functioning of the Delhi Vidyut Board will be reviewed and its efficiency improved, it says noting that the plant load factor (PLF) of the DVB is the lowest in the country.

It also details the short and long term measures for greater availability of water in the Capital, including digging of 150 tubewells to yield more than 20 million gallons daily along the marginal bundh on the Alipore area.

The draft manifesto promises to accord official status or official use for specified purpose in administration, education and information to Urdu and Punjabi and encourage schools to arrange teaching in different languages.

All linguistic groups will be ensured facilities on the lines of Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Punjabi and Sindhi languages.

About unauthorised colonies, it says the Delhi Congress strongly believes in the regularisation of colonies and constructions which have come into existence up to March 31, 1998.

If required, rules or regulations or bye-laws which stand in the way would be changed, it says adding that the party wanted prevention of unauthorised construction in a humanitarian and pragmatic way.

It also promises to improve civic conditions in slums by proper provision of water and electricity and improving the sewerage system.

About transport system, the draft document says it needs early and drastic improvement to end the "present chaos" and to facilitate commuting and promises to set up a unified Delhi transport authority to ensure coordination of the DTC, road-building agencies and Railways.

BJP may leave 6 seats for allies in Delhi
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 29 — The Bharatiya Janata Party may leave six seats in Delhi and less than 12 seats in Rajasthan for its allies at the Centre in the November 25 Assembly elections.

The BJP appears in no mood to give more than five seats to the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Samata Party in Delhi, sources said adding that allies like the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Akali Dal will be conceded less than 12 seats in Rajasthan. In Madhya Pradesh, the Samata Party, which has been publicly demanding 20 seats, will be given about six seats, sources pointed out.

While officially the BJP high command has left the task of reaching an agreement with the allies to the respective state units, the central leadership is keeping a close tab on the negotiations.

At its first meeting today between the BJP state leaders which included the Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, and the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Prof V.K. Malhotra, and the Akali Dal Rajya Sabha MP, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, the Akali Dal General Secretary, Mr Pramjit Singh Sarna, and the Delhi Pradesh Akali Dal President, Mr Avtar Singh Hit, about seven areas were identified where the Akalis may have a chance to win.

Though Mr Dhindsa, who led the Akali Dal team at the talks, expressed satisfaction over the progress of talks, BJP sources said the Akali Dal would not be given more than five seats in Delhi.

The areas which have been tentatively identified by the two sides, include Vishnu Garden, Tilak Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Mandavali, Jangpura, Sabji Mandi and Model Town, the sources said.

At the next round of talks, the BJP leaders would bargain hard with the Akalis and would finally agree on five seats, the sources said. The BJP’s central leadership has told the negotiating leaders that they should try to stress on the winning chances of the candidates.

In case the Congress decides to field about 12 Sikhs as its candidates in the Delhi elections, the BJP may be forced to concede more seats to the Akali Dal, the sources said. Final strategy would only be decided after ascertaining the Congress strategy, the sources said.

At the same time, the BJP would not give more than one seat to the Samata Party in Delhi as a "goodwill gesture".

In Rajasthan, the BJP is said to be in two minds whether to concede about 12 seats to the INLD and the Akali Dal or ask them to contest on their own with the objective of cutting into the potential Congress votes.

The Rajasthan Chief Minister, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, is said to be of the view that both the Akali Dal and the INLD should contest without entering into a formal electoral alliance with the BJP. This would help the party more, Mr Shekhawat is believed to have told the BJP General Secretary, Mr Govindacharya, who is the party’s in charge of elections in Rajasthan.

In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP would not give more than six seats to the Samata Party. "The Samata Party is our oldest ally and their demand will be considered favourably" , a party leader said. Alliance with the Samata Party in Bihar is very crucial to the BJP, he pointed out.

At its three-day meeting of the central election committee beginning November 1, the BJP would not only finalise its list of candidates for the coming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Delhi but would also fine tune its electoral strategy.

The BJP high command has also decided that its election campaign will be aggressive which will focus on cases of corruption of the previous Congress governments. Bofors would figure prominently in the elections. Jammu and Kashmir and Pokhran-II nuclear tests would also be highlighted.

Delhi poll notification today
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 29 — On the eve of the notification for election to the 70-member Delhi Assembly, political parties and workers were busy gearing up for the polls.

The Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, Mr O P Kelkar, said here today that the notification for the November 25 polls would be issued tomorrow. He said that the last date for filing nominations is November 6.

Mr Kelkar said that about 60,000 security personnel had been deployed in 1904 polling stations. He said that Delhi had an electorate of 83.13 lakh including 47.80 lakh male voters and 35.33 lakh women voters.

"All political parties have been requested to observe strictly the Model Code of Conduct and provision of enactments regarding elections," Mr Kelkar said.

While scrutiny of nominations will take place on November 7, last date for the withdrawal of nominations has been fixed for November 9. Voting would take place on November 25 and the counting of votes in 10 different centres would take place on November 28.

The Election Commission of India has decided to use Electronic Voting Machines for polling in six Assembly constituencies "keeping in view their compact urban character and relatively higher level of literacy."

Meanwhile, the proposed November 3 rally by the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, at Ferozshah Kotla, has been postponed by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee on the instructions from the All-India Congress Committee.

DPCC members said that the AICC had suggested November 9 instead. The venue remains unchanged.

DPCC members expressed the hope that the list of candidates and the manifesto would be released by November 9.

The selection committee of the DPCC is likely to finalise the names of about 150 applicants from the 1600 ticket seekers by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Janata Dal is sure that its crusade for the poor will yield desired results in the forthcoming Assembly polls.

"We are confident that our position as the third political force is sound,’’ said Mr Prithvi Raj Yadav, general secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Janata Dal.

Talking of the Janata Dal’s plans for the forthcoming Assembly elections, Mr Yadav said that the party would field candidates from all 70 Assembly segments in the Capital. He claimed that the JD had received 500 applications from persons desirous of contesting the elections. He said that a 22-member screening committee of the Delhi State Janata Dal, headed by Mr C P Singh had started evaluating applications.

Mr Singh told The Tribune that the Janata Dal had always been a champion for the poor and the downtrodden. He said that the party was confident of getting votes from Dalits and other backward classes.

Spelling out JD’s poll promises, Mr Yadav said that his party would pay special attention to civic grievances, primary education and the disturbing incidence of crime especially crime against women. "Apart from this, we would try and strengthen the fleet of Delhi Transport Corporation buses," he said.

He said that manifold increase in prices of vegetables and even flour indicated the failure of the BJP government in controlling prices.

The election committee of the Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party completed the process for proposal of names of the candidates from the Mandal heads today.

In the past four days, the district and mandal chiefs proposed the names of those who they felt should fight the November 25 elections.

During the election committee meeting, there had been opposition to some of the sitting MLAs. The committee will begin finalising the list from tomorrow after consultations.