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Tuesday,
March 4, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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BJP state
unit chief offers to quit BJP’s 3
mandal units dissolved BJP in
tizzy after defeat: Cong Shiv Sena
chief resigns Polytechnic
students boycott classes Noted
author dead |
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BJP state unit chief offers to quit Shimla, March 3 Mr Sharma, who was routed at the hustings by Congress’s Mukesh Agnihotri, by 5,034 votes in the Santokgarh constituency, has conveyed his decision to the party high command. The BJP secured only 16 seats against 40 seats bagged by the Congress in the elections held for 65 of the 68 seats in the Assembly. Mr Sharma, who steered the state BJP unit for the past three years, was elected to the Vidhan Sabha in the 1998 elections by a margin of 2,311 votes from Santokgarh. Meanwhile, in an apparent move to stall the installation of Mr Virbhadra Singh as the new Chief Minister of the state, the BJP today cautioned the Congress not to hand over the reins of the government to a leader who was facing trial in corruption cases. Mr Baldev Sharma, spokesperson of the state BJP, said it would be appropriate for the Congress to wait for the court verdict as an adverse judgement against the top executive could cause much embarrassment to it. He said political parties had been avoiding giving important positions to leaders who had been charge sheeted in the court in cases of corruption. He cited the example of Mr Sukh Ram who was forced to resign from the Dhumal government as soon as charges were framed by the court in the telecom scandal. He said although the new government had not been formed but pressure was being put on officers to withdraw the cases against top Congress leaders. He said the BJP would not allow this. Referring to the charges of corruption levelled by the Congress against Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, he said having won the election it was for the party to probe the charges and take the issue to its logical conclusion. |
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BJP’s 3 mandal units dissolved
Shimla, March 3 Mr Sharma, who lost the Assembly election from Santokhgarh by a huge margin also expelled senior BJP leader and former minister from Kulu, Kunj Lal Thakur, president and general secretary of Kutlehar Mandal BJP, Bachittar Singh and Romesh Sharma, Una district vice-president Puran Sharma and two other leaders Nirmal Singh and Rakesh Awasthi from the primary membership of the party for a period of six years for working against the party candidates. The mandal BJP presidents of Bhuntar and
Banjar, Dile Ram and Dhyan Singh had also been expelled from the party for six years.
PTI |
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BJP in tizzy after defeat: Cong Shimla, March 3 Talking to newsmen here he said top leaders of the
BJP, instead of analysing the reasons for the defeat, were blaming each other for it. He said signs of the trouble were already visible with party president, Venkahiah
Naidu, seeking an explanation from Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister, for accepting the fact that the Dhumal government failed to provide clean administration. He said the Congress succeeded in exposing the corruption and misrule of the BJP before the people. The development plank of the party failed vis-a-vis campaign of the Congress which targeted the Chief Minister for corruption. The character assassination campaign of the BJP failed vis-a-vis the corruption issue. He said the results were on expected lines and credit for the victory went to party President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who campaigned for the party. |
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Shiv Sena chief resigns Kangra, March 3 Disclosing this here at a press conference, Dr Gulshan Kumar said the new entrants in the party had started dictating terms to the old and dedicated workers of the party. He said as many as 13 BJP MLAs and ministers and three Congress MLAs were ready to join the Shiv Sena in the state and eager to contest on the Shiv Sena ticket. However, as party coordinator of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, Lieut-Gen Prem Nath Hoon (retd), had not allowed the Shiv Sena to be in the poll fray in the state during February 26 poll, it shattered the aspirations of the Shiv Sena workers in the state, Dr Gulshan Kumar said. He alleged that the Shiv Sena leadership was not strengthening the party outside Maharashtra, so the Shiv Sainiks in other states were getting demoralised because of which he had resigned from the post of the state chief and keep distance from the party. He said he would continue to work in future for Hindutva but not as a worker of the Shiv Sena. He said he sent his resignation to the Shiv Sena chief Bala Sahib Thackeray on February 5 but made it public today because it would not have any impact on the elections in the state. |
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Polytechnic
students boycott classes Kangra, March 3 The protesting students threatened to stage dharnas and rallies from tomorrow in support of their demands till these were accepted by the Himachal Pradesh Takniki Shiksha Board. In a letter to the Director, Technical Education, H.P., today the protesting students said more than half of the students of second year had failed to pass their first semester and as per the board rules these students can’t get admission to the fourth semester until they clear the first semester exams. They alleged that the change in the pattern of the papers of the first semester during the last chance had added to their woes as due to the change more than 200 students had failed in maths and chemistry papers of the first semester in different polytechnic colleges in the state. In view of this traumatic situation the students should be given a chance to clear the first semester in the fourth semester. The Principal of the college, Mr D.R. Sharma, said, “We are still maintaining the quality of education in the polytechnic colleges but the problem was because of the admission of the below average students to these colleges coupled with the lack of seriousness among these students.” He said 31 students of the college had been denied admission to the fourth or sixth semester till they cleared their first or third semester as per the board norms. |
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Noted author
dead Shimla, March 3 He is survived by two daughters. Known as a moving
encyclopedia on history and culture of Himachal Pradesh, Mr Gobardhan Singh, wrote about 12 books on different aspects of art, crafts culture and folk traditions of the hill state. He was a voracious reader and had a long stint as a librarian at the Secretariat Library. |
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