M A I N   N E W S

J&K Governor’s kin ‘kidnapped’
Syed Ali Ahmed

New Delhi, February 28
Aakash Saxena (five), believed to be a relative of Jammu and Kashmir Governor, was reportedly kidnapped from Central Market of Ashok Vihar in North-West Delhi last evening.

Sources alleged the incident occurred last evening when Aakash, grand son of a retired IPS officer, Satish Chander, had gone to the market along with his parents.

The sources said militants’ involvement was not suspected in the kidnapping case. It could be a kidnapping for ransom.

However, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sandeep Goel refused to give details saying that it was a missing person case.

The DCP also did not disclose what relations the victim had with the J&K Governor.

The Commissioner of Delhi Police, Mr Ajai Raj Sharma, and the Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range), Mr Ajai Chadha, were not available for the comment.

Dhumal drops 4 dissident ministers
Himachal Government plunges into serious crisis
Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 28
The crisis in the ruling BJP-HVC government further deepened today following the dropping of four dissident ministers by the Chief Minister, Prof P.K. Dhumal, this evening.

Prof Dhumal, called upon the Governor, Dr Suraj Bhan, immediately after the dissidents including four ministers — Mr Krishan Kapoor, Mr Romesh Dhawala, Mr Rajan Sushant and Mr Hari Narayan Singh — revolted against him and demanded the removal of the party General Secretary, Mr Narendra Modi, as in charge of Himachal affairs.

The Chief Minister recommended the dropping of the dissident ministers from the Council of Ministers and the Governor acted on his advice.

The dissident ministers, reacting to the development said they were expecting it and were prepared for this situation.

“The government would stay but Dhumal would go”, they said.

Mr Dhumal has reallocated the portfolios of the dissident ministers who were dropped today.

Mr Vidya Sagar, Agriculture Minister, was given Transport, Mr Karan Singh, Primary Education Minister was given Science, Technology and Environment, Mr Narinder Bragta, Horticulture Minister was given Election, Mr R.D. Kashyap, Urban Development Minister was handed over Town and Country Planning, Mr Mohal Lal, Ayurveda Minister was given Revenue and Mr Ravinder Ravi was given Irrigation and Public Health.

Earlier, the three-year-old Dhumal ministry plunged into a serious crisis on the eve of the Budget session with the dissidents — four ministers and three legislators, — deciding not to participate in the proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha and also to stay away from the meeting of the legislature party until their demand for a change in leadership and removal of Mr Narendra Modi, in charge of Himachal affairs, was accepted.

The dissidents dropped the bombshell on the very day the party had convened a meeting of the legislature BJP to finalise the strategy for the session by releasing a letter to the Press in which serious charges of corruption, nepotism and financial mismanagement were levelled against the Chief Minister. They also accused him of hatching a conspiracy to implicate members of his own ministry in collusion with Congress leaders and cited the registration of an FIR against three ministers and a legislator of Kangra district at the instance of a Congress legislator in this regard.

Prof Dhumal has faced a revolt for the second time over the past three months. In November, three ministers — Mr Krishan Kapoor, Mr Ramesh Dhawala and Mr Hari Narain Singh — and legislators Dulo Ram, Des Raj and Nirmala Devi had demanded change in leadership but the matter was settled after Prof Dhumal agreed to remove Mr Mohinder Singh, the controversial PWD Minister, and Mr Onkar Thakur, Officer on Special Duty in the Chief Minister’s secretariat. The dissidents have received a shot in the arm with Dr Rajan Sushant, Revenue Minister, joining their camp.

Mr Modi and Prof Dhumal, they alleged, had purposely divided the party to achieve their motives. The two had been working in tandem and sidelining loyal partymen who could be inconvenient. In the process, the image of the party had taken a severe beating.

The state was paying dearly for the indiscretions of the Chief Minister who had surpassed all records of “wasteful expenditure”, particularly the misuse of helicopter. The severe financial crisis had not deterred him from doling out largesses in the form of interest free loan of Rs 2.5 crore to a liquor magnet, they alleged.

Alleging favoritism and nepotism in recruitment to government jobs, the dissidents pointed out that deserving candidates were being ignored to accommodate influential ones. The appointment of the wife of a minister as lecturer in Himachal Pradesh University was the most blatant example of it

The unemployed were not getting jobs even in hydel power projects. The Chief Minister had convened a meeting of the Cabinet at an half-an-hour notice in which more than 100 projects were sanctioned without any discussion.

Even farmers had been unhappy over the failure of the government to ensure remunerative returns to them for the khair trees. The Bhartiya Kisan Sangh had urged the government to lift the ban on the export of khair wood but no action was taken despite a categorical assurance in this regard. Worse, a 30 per cent tax was imposed on khair. The farmers were getting only Rs 700 per tree as against Rs 2,500 per tree in Punjab.