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Monday,
February 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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YAMUNANAGAR POLL No
alliance for BJP in future, says Swami Liquor may
cost less in Haryana Editor
beaten up by coach |
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recruitment rally on Feb 6 Fatehabad, February 3 The Army Recruitment Office, Hisar, will recruit youths of Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad district in the Military Hospital Grounds at Ambala cantonment on February 6. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr O. P. Indora, here, gave this information today.
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YAMUNANAGAR POLL Yamunanagar, February 3 Initially the byelection appeared to be a routine electoral battle to be fought by traditional rivals, the Congress and the BJP, which have been winning the seat almost alternately in the past. But this time Mr Chautala raised the ante by not only fielding his candidate (rubbing the BJP, his electoral ally, the wrong way in the process) but by also describing the byelection as “referendum on the policies and functioning of my government”. No wonder the ruling party has gone all hog in the campaigning, with Mr Chautala himself addressing ward-level public meetings in between his sojourns in western UP, where his party candidates are fighting with their back to the wall to register the presence of the INLD in that area. Obviously, Mr Chautala would like Yamunanagar to compensate for any possible losses suffered by his party in western UP. A setback both in UP and here will be quite embarrassing for the INLD supremo. His MLA son, Abhey, and the Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Arora, along with a horde of INLD activists have been stationed here to campaign for Dr Malik Chand Gambhir, a former MLA, who travelled to the INLD from the Jana Sangh via the Congress. With the presence of such heavyweights amidst its ranks, the INLD campaign is naturally in high gear. But it has also given the Opposition an opportunity to hit where it hurts the most. The Opposition is trying to revive the ghost of the Meham mayhem, something Mr Chautala would want to forget like a bad dream. It is alleged that the Chief Minister has been threatening various sections of voters with retribution if his candidate did not make it. Despite denials by Abhey, “vikaas ya vinaash”, is the phrase currently in currency here, to which dubious meanings have been attached by the Opposition. The Congress candidate, Dr Krishna Pandit, has also alleged that certain police officers from other districts have come here to support the INLD nominee. The younger Chautala denies that his father has threatened anyone. “How can you believe such allegations? No Chief Minister will use such language in a democracy. My father has been working hard for the past 10 years to cultivate the urban voters. Can he allow his hard work to go waste just for one seat, which would have no impact on the stability of the government?” The MLA from Rori, who had won his seat with a record margin, asserts that the Opposition has twisted what his father has been saying. “We tell the voters that while the INLD believes in ‘vikaas’, the Congress and the HVP promote ‘vinaash’. This has been deliberately misconstrued by our opponents.” Abhey says if any police officer could get the ruling party votes, the Congress would not have gone out of power since all these officers were appointed during the Congress regime. He asserts that the INLD does not discriminate against any constituency. “Yamunanagar elected Dr J.P. Sharma of the Congress in 2000. But the Chautala government spent about Rs 5.50 crore on various development projects in Yamunanagar during the past over two years against mere Rs 14 lakh by the Bhajan Lal government and Rs 15 lakh by the Bansi Lal government during their entire tenures.” Notwithstanding these assertions of the Chief Minister’s son, the fear among the voters is clearly perceptible. This has made the voter silent, despite his unhappiness with the government on a number of issues, mainly like the enhancement in house tax and water charges, the imposition of certain municipal taxes and certain measures to check the evasion of sales tax. People dub these measures as the manifestation of the INLD’s alleged anti-urban bias. The Congress hopes to encash the voters’ sympathy for the widow of the former MLA and anti-incumbency sentiment. The BJP, which has fielded a new face, Mr Ghanshyam Dass, is playing the “betrayal” card. Its president, Mr Ratan Lal Kataria, says Mr Chautala has violated the “dharma” of alliance. “Before the Assembly elections Mr Chautala used to describe me as his ‘seth’, who will bring funds from the Centre for the development of the state, and himself as my ‘munshi’. The ‘munshi’ has turned dishonest.” Mr Surender Singh of the HVP, whose candidate, Mr Sahib Singh, was the first to launch his campaign, alleges that Mr Chautala is using threatening language as a strategy. “He knows that the urban voter hates him. By instilling fear in the mind of the urban voter, Mr Chautala wants to keep the polling percentage in the urban areas low.” The former Chief Minister and President of the HVP, Mr Bansi Lal, says the “terror tactics of the ruling party” will not succeed as the voter is very conscious of his rights now. But the Congress thinks otherwise. Its leaders feel that since the counting will be booth-wise because of the use of electronic voting machines, voters of a particular area will not be free from the fear of the others knowing how they had voted. |
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No alliance for BJP in future, says Swami Yamunanagar, February 3 Asked if after the elections, the BJP might join hands with INLD because of pressure from the high command, Mr Swami said it would not happen as the high command had never forced the decision on the state unit. He said five INLD MPs would continue to extend their support to the NDA government. He said even in Manipur, the BJP and the Samta Party were in the fray and both were part of the INLD government. He said under the water supply and sanitation scheme, Yamunanagar and Karnal had been identified. Talking about terrorism, he said General Musharraf had fallen in to his own trap and was now making baseless allegations. He said the Pakistan Foreign Minister had said he would send a list of Indian nationals who were performing crimes in Pakistan but no such list had reached the Indian Government. Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, senior BJP leader, and some former ministers blamed the Chief Minister for the snapping of ties by putting his own candidate. |
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Liquor may cost less
in Haryana Chandigarh, February 3 Informed sources said that excise duty on Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) as well as country liquor was proposed to be cut from the coming financial year in view of competition from the neighbouring states and to check the smuggling of liquor. While stating that the current rate of excise duty was Rs 41 per proof litre of IMFL and Rs 21 per proof litre of country liquor, the sources said that the duty on country liquor would be “substantially reduced”. The new policy also proposed to do away with the prevailing method of offering liquor vends to interested parties through auction and replace it by introducing the system of inviting tenders and giving the vend to the party making the highest bid. The sources said that it had been proposed to scrap the auction system since it was suspected that some big parties were able to “influence” bids during auctions. Moreover, to thwart attempts by big parties to monopolise the liquor business, it had been proposed under the new policy to change the system of holding auctions for various districts on different dates. The sources said that the prevailing system enabled the big parties to hop from one district to another for securing rights for as many districts as possible. The new policy proposed that allotment for running vends in various districts would be made on a single day. The new policy would also change the system of allotment of one district to one party. “Instead of one party having total right over a district, eight to 10 parties will be allowed to operate vends in a district”, the sources said. They said that the bringing in of eight to 10 parties would ensure competition and prevent the monopolisation of the trade in the district by a single party. The reduction in the state’s earning from excise collection due to the slashing of duty on IMFL and country liquor would be balanced by an increase in the earning from the new system of inviting tenders and having more than one party for each district, said the sources. They claimed that while about Rs 870 crore would be generated from excise duty during the current financial year, the revenue from excise would increase by the end of the next financial year. They added that the new policy would be presented before the Cabinet for its approval during its next meeting. |
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Editor beaten up by coach Fatehabad, February 3 According to reports, the karate coach, went to the office “Lekha Jokha” here last evening and allegedly beat up its editor for publishing a report regarding the wrongful collection of funds from schoolchildren in the name of karate exhibition on Republic Day. He also threatened the editor of dire consequences in future. The scribes have taken up the matter with the SP. |
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Army recruitment rally on Feb 6 Fatehabad, February 3 The Deputy Commissioner said the age of a candidate must be between 16 years and 21 years as on April 1, 2002. The candidates must bring with them their matriculation certificates to substantiate the proof of their age. In case the candidates have not passed their matriculation examinations, they must bring with them an affidavit to this effect duly attested by an Executive Magistrate. The candidates must also have with them domicile certificates issued by the Sub Divisional Magistrate. |
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Truck taken away Ambala, February 3 Purse snatched Ambala
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