BJP to go it alone in Haryana
Jind, March 31
Talking to mediapersons at Nirjan village in the district today, Mr Ganeshi Lal, state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the BJP had not entered into an electoral alliance with any political party in the state.

Karnal, March 31
The President of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the UP Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, has said that the hope of an understanding with the Congress on seat sharing in UP is still alive. He was talking to the mediapersons after addressing a public rally here today.

He said the offer of 18 seats to the Congress in UP by his party was justified and the Congress needed a second thought on accepting this proposal. “If the Congress refuses to accept this proposal, it will be a blunder on their part, he said.

He asked the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, to rethink with a cool mind, otherwise, their decision in haste will easily pave the way for the BJP to regain power after the elections. He said the Congress had win only 18 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections; therefore, an increase of two seats was more than enough as they had almost lost their mass base in the state in recent years.

Answering a question, he expressed his concern over the war of words between senior leaders of the Congress and the SP. He asked his party leaders to keep quiet over the issue as it may pose serious threat to the very existence of democratic principles and secularism in the country’.

Earlier, addressing the gathering he lashed out at the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying people had lost faith in him. “Every day he changes his statements under pressure from the RSS and the VHP to remain in power”, he said.

The BJP under the leadership of Mr Vajpayee had adopted ‘heartless attitude towards farmers, youth, the labour class and the minorities in particular, he said.

Mr Mulayam Singh said the BJP had raised the issue of the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya from time to time only when he was in power in the state. “Now the people of UP have realised the political gimmicks of the BJP and this time they will teach them (BJP) a lesson by rooting out their existence from the state having a population of 17.8 crore”, he added.

He also criticised the ‘feel good’ issue being raised by the BJP leadership in the country saying it was for those rich people who most often replaced their cars, mobile handsets and computers with latest models and travelled by air but not for crores of people living in the countryside who struggled between life and death everyday due to poverty.

He asked Mr Vajpayee to tell the masses what he had done during his leadership to end corruption from the country.

Mr Mulayam Singh said the fate of the new government at the Centre would be decided by the people of UP. He claimed that the SP would alone win at least 60 out of the total of 80 seats in UP and would emerge as a deciding factor in the formation of the new government at the Centre.

He asked the people of Haryana to vote for the SP candidates the party that was committed to the welfare of the poor farmers and the landless. Without saying much against the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, he said his downfall is certain.

Earlier, the state president of the SP, Ms Kanta Airiya, while addressing the gathering said, “Ib ki bar Haryana ki janta in teenon lalon ka bistra gol karke rahegi”. She introduced Mr Raghu Mal Bhatt, SP candidate from the Karnal parliamentary constituency, and asked people of Karnal to vote in his favour.

Rewari: Taking exception to the advancement of the Lok Sabha poll by about eight months before its scheduled time by the Vajpayee-led NDA government, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said here on Wednesday that such advancement of parliamentary elections was a violation of constitutional norms.

Addressing his first election rally in Ahirwal organised at the Ramlila ground here to mobilise support for the party nominee, Mr Raghu Yadav, Mr Yadav said there was no compulsion or crisis situation which could necessitate the holding of snap poll. He said reason for the advancement of the Lok Sabha poll could be that heavy taxes would be levied on poor sections of society in the coming Budget.

Reiterating his party’s resolve to capture 60 of the total 80 parliamentary seats in the ensuing Lok Sabha poll in Uttar Pradesh, he claimed that the SP would be playing a key role in the formation of the next government at the Centre. He appealed to the voters of Ahirwal to make Mr Raghu Yadav victorious.

Chandigarh, March 31
Allegations and counter-allegations are flowing freely following a split in the Haryana unit of the BSP. The President of the state unit, Mr Ashok Sherwal, along with his supporters joined the Lok Jan Shakti Party of Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, in Delhi yesterday.

Mr Sherwal had taken over the reins of the party in Haryana after the first BSP MP from the state, Mr Aman Kumar Nagra, was expelled from the party for his alleged "anti-party activities". Mr Nagra is considered to be the founder President of the Haryana BSP. He was a long-time associate of the BSP supremo, Mr Kanshi Ram. Though he is mainly responsible for making the BSP a force to reckon with in what is called as the old Ambala district, which now comprises Yamunanagar, Ambala and Panchkula districts.

Mr Sherwal's exit is a setback to the party on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections. He blames Mr Narinder Kashyap, BSP General Secretary in charge of the party affairs in northern India, for his action. Mr Sherwal says Mr Kashyap did not allow him to discharge his duties as the party President. He was not consulted on any of the party matters. Mr Kashyap directly contacted even the block level workers. Under these circumstances, Mr Sherwal says, it had become extremely difficult for him to work.

Mr Sherwal says that Mr Kashyap recommended the names of those persons to contest the Lok Sabha elections, who were not even primary members of the party and were not familiar with the party workers. The proverbial last straw on the back of the camel came when Mr Kashyap appointed Mr Ramji Lal of Faridabad as the convener of the state unit. Sources close to Mr Sherwal indirectly accuse Mr Kashyap of being in league with the Congress. They say he deliberately gave the party ticket to "weak" candidates to help the Congress.

The allegation regarding the fielding of "weak" candidates is interestingly supported by the BJP. A former Haryana BJP President, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, who is the party nominee from the Ambala Lok Sabha seat said at a press conference at Panchkula a few days ago that by fielding a weak candidate the BSP had helped the Congress.

Mr Kashyap, on the other hand, says Mr Sherwal left the BSP for personal ambitions. He says the party nominated the candidates after taking into consideration caste equations in the state and their capacity to win the elections. He said Mr Sherwal wanted to contest the Ambala seat. But the party leadership directed him not to enter the electoral arena personally so that he could campaign for all the 10 candidates in the state.

Mr Kashyap, who was talking to newsmen here, said the house in Sector 16, Panchkula, where the Sherwals reside, was purchased for the party office from the funds collected by the workers. A few months ago, the Sherwals demanded rent for running the party office in that house. He said he deposited over Rs 4.5 lakh in February last towards the rent because the party wanted to avoid an internal dispute in the party when it was to face the Lok Sabha elections. He said information was being collected from the workers how much fund was collected from them for the purchase of the house. He indicated the party might take legal action after the elections.

Mr Sherwal, who denied the allegation, said the house was purchased by him after raising bank loan in the name of his wife, Kusum. He alleged Mr Kashyap was insisting that the house should be mortgaged to him, to which he(Mr Sherwal) did not agree. He said Mr Kashyap had deposited the amount in the loan account to pressurise him to mortgage the house to him.

Mr Kashyap maintained that the exit of Mr Sherwal would not affect the party prospects in the election. Rather the party would emerge stronger because many workers who had been frustrated by the behaviour of Mr Sherwal, had now again become active. He said Mr Ramji Lal, convener of the party, had been nominated as the new President of the Haryana BSP.

Ambala, March 31
Revolt by the Haryana unit of Bahujan Samaj Party is likely to dampen the poll prospects of the BSP candidate in Ambala. A sizeable section of the Haryana unit of the BSP, led by state unit president Ashok Sherwal, yesterday joined Mr Ram Pawan’s Lok Janshakti Party at New Delhi.

The revolt took place following the decision of the BSP high command to allocate Ambala constituency ticket to Mr Chander Pal. Local activists were upset with the decision and claimed that the revolt took place over the dictatorial attitude of the BSP leadership.

Talking to The Tribune from New Delhi, Mr Sherwal said he along with other office-bearers of the Haryana unit of the BSP have joined the Lok Janshakti Party. “We are going to hold a state-level meeting soon in which other modalities will be worked out,” he said. Mr Ashok Sherwal has been appointed national general secretary of the Lok Janshakti Party.

Mr Sherwal said the final decision regarding fielding of candidates from Ambala would be taken soon. “I am keen to work for the party and I want to strengthen the party in Haryana,” he said.

Samalkha (Panipat), March 31
With the resignation of Kartar Singh Bhadana, Co-operation Minister, political activity has increased in the district. While supporters of Mr Bhadana have left for Delhi to express solidarity with him, other Gujjar leaders in the party are trying to press their candidature for the party ticket. The BJP and the Lok Janshakti Party are of the view that the revolt in the INLD will help them.

Mr Bhadana considered to be having a strong hold in the Gujjar-dominated Samalkha area, had won the assembly elections twice from this place. He was elected in 1996 on HVP ticket. He and 13 MLAs had withdrawn support from Bansi Lal government and helped Mr Chautala to form the government. In 2000, he again won from Samalkha.

He had indicated his resentment with the INLD earlier. The INLD had failed to sense the early sign of revolt in a rally addressed by Mr Chautala and Mr Bhadana on March 20 at Samalkhan. The supporters of Mr Bhadana had carried banners in support of Mr Bhadana only and Mr Chautala was not seen anywhere on the posters or banners.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Bhadana had expressed his bitterness. He had addressed the rally without wishing Mr Chautala first. He had added that if they people continued their support, he would soon do wonders. Sources in the Bhadana camp said he had support of six MLAs in the party.

Jind, March 31
Talking to mediapersons at Nirjan village in the district today, Mr Ganeshi Lal, state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said the BJP had not entered into an electoral alliance with any political party in the state. He said news regarding an alliance with the Haryana Vikas Party was not correct.

He said the BJP had selected five candidates and the remaining candidates would be selected soon. He said the BJP was in a position to contest alone.

Yamunanagar, March 31
Mr Aman Kumar Nagra resigned from the Congress yesterday in protest against the denial of ticket to him.

A former Bahujan Samaj Party state president, he was elected to Parliament in 1998 as BSP-INLD candidate.

Fatehabad, March 31
If the claims of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam are to be believed, then the consumers in Fatehabad will not have to face hassles in the redressal of their complaints regarding erratic power supply from now. The consumers will just have to dial a telephone (number 220190) and an attendant will tell them about the reason for power failure in an area and would also inform the consumers about the tentative time by which the power supply would be restored. The attendants manning the complaint centre and the field staff on the power restoration duty have been provided with mobile phones. The attendant in the complaint centre will intimate the field staff about the complaint on mobile phone. The attendant, in turn, will intimate the centre after the restoration of the power supply.

The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has made these arrangements in its Bijli Suvidha Kendra (BSK), which started functioning here today. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mahtab Singh Sehrawat, inaugurated the kendra today. The kendra is fully equipped with telephone, mobile and computers. The nigam has already set up such kendras at Hisar, Faridabad and Gurgaon.

Bhiwani, March 31
As many as 23 students, including 10 girls, have shared top 10 positions in the provisional merit list of middle annual examination-2004 conducted by the Haryana School Education Board recently. While three girl students have jointly bagged the first position, the second position in the merit list has also been secured by a girl student. The third position has been bagged jointly by two students - one girl and a boy.

While stating this today, the Secretary of the Board, Mr Rakesh Gupta, said Parul Gautam of Takshila Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 3, Ballabgarh (Faridabad), Jyoti Saini of Aravali High School, Panipat, and Alka Bhatia of Guru Nanak Girls Senior Secondary School, Karnal, had jointly bagged the first position by securing 587 marks each. Sonia of Arya Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Narwana, district Jind, bagged the second position by securing 586 marks.

He said Sakshi Arora of Guru Nanak Girls Senior Secondary School, Karnal, and Sandeep Khanchi of Hindu Middle School, Atawala, district Panipat, jointly shared the third position by securing 583 marks each. The students who jointly secured the fourth position in the merit list by securing 582 marks included Arvinder Kaur of City High School, Rohtak, Nishu of Arya Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Narwana, Chaitnaya of Saraswati High School, Uklana Mandi (Hisar) and Robin, Cambridge Ideal High School, Jind.

Mr Gupta said Devi Chand of Government High School, Hasanpur (Kurukshetra) had bagged the eighth position by securing 578 marks. He said that out of these 23 students, 11 belonged to rural areas, he added.

He said last year 6,934 candidates were placed in the merit list, whereas the number of such candidates had increased to 7,346 this year, an increase of 412 candidates.

He said earlier the candidates used to secure 100 per cent marks only in mathematics and Sanskrit papers. The number of candidates who obtained 100 per cent marks in Sanskrit and mathematics were 94 and 73, respectively, last year. However, this year the students’ had secured 100 per cent marks in other subjects. The number of candidates who secured 100 per cent marks in English was 24, Hindi one, Maths 223, Science eight, Social Science five, Punjabi five and Sanskrit 192 candidates.

Panipat, March 31
The spurt in accidents and traffic jams everyday on National Highway No. 1 that passes through Panipat city seems to have no effect on the status of the ambitious flyover project, which has been hanging fire for the past two years now. The Rs 500 crore project meant to elevate 6-km road over national highway by the National Highways Authority of India shows no signs of implementation even today.

Another reason the flyover project should be rushed through is the loss of human lives as many accidents occur during traffic jams and rash driving. In the absence of any proper medical facility, the injured have to suffer a lot. There is no hospital in and around the city to treat the seriously injured. They are often referred to Delhi or Rohtak hospitals. The delays often take a toll of human lives.

This is not enough. The problem has assumed serious proportions as tankers carrying highly inflammable material from a refinery (situated in the city) plying on the same road pose high risk to the human lives and properties on this route of the GT road. On an average 400 tankers daily ply on the national highway to supply diesel, LPG, kerosene to Delhi, Uttar Pardesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and to various districts of Haryana. In spite of the warning by the administration that due to plying of the tankers on the GT Road there was high risk to human lives at every five minutes, the authorities have not woken up to solve the problems.

Besides it, there are a number of link roads on the GT Road without traffic lights. Moreover the traffic jams pose a security risk to a number of VIPs and politicians who remain stranded for hours. The stretch of highway has also become a protest ground for the people of the town to show their resentment, causing inconvenience to the travellers.

However, none of the political parties has made it a poll issue so far. The businessmen who are interested in the delay of the project, fear that the flyover will hit their business.

Ambala, March 31
A knock on the door sends Sheela Devi into a tizzy and she clasps her daughter tightly before opening it.

Her worry is understandable. She has been living under the constant stress of having to hand over the child to officials. The baby girl has been rescued from a garbage dump nearly six months ago. At that time, the girl was barely a day old.

Sheela Devi’s husband Amrik Chand, who rents out rickshaws, had found the girl lying in the garbage dump on September 18 last year. He felt as if his prayers had been answered as the couple was childless.

Amrik Chand recalls: “At about 6 am, I heard the faint sound of a child crying from a garbage dump close to my home near the cantonment railway station. I brought the baby home. She was wrapped in a red cloth.”

He then informed the police. “Informing the police proved to be a difficult task. I first went to the Railway Protection Force, who directed me to the Government Railway Police, who in turn told me to approach the civil police. I went to Lal Kurti police station from where I was asked to go to Parao police station,” he said.

Concerned about the health of the child, Amrik Chand took the girl to the Civil Hospital Cantonment where he was advised to take her to the Civil Hospital in the city. “Since, I felt that her condition was critical, I ultimately went to a private practitioner. There she was admitted only after I filled up my name in the father’s column,” he stated.

The abandoned baby girl was admitted to the nursing home for four days. “During the first three months, she was constantly sick and I even had to take her to Delhi for treatment,” he said.

“Thereafter, I submitted an application to the Deputy Commissioner giving details of the circumstances in which we were looking after the child as our own daughter. The result was that some officials came from the City and they demanded that the child must be handed over to them,” he said.

Amrik Chand and Sheela Devi said they were shocked by the development. “Since, we spoke the truth, the officials wanted to take away our daughter. We had looked after her and nursed her back to health. If we had not rescued her from the garbage dump, it could have been a different story altogether. Our system is heartless,” they pleaded.

The couple said they were asked to go to Chandigarh and fill up a form. “We were told that we will have to surrender our daughter and when our number comes, we will get another child. We fail to understand this logic. If we are eligible for adoption, then why can’t I keep our daughter with whom we have a special bond,” they said.

Gurgaon, March 31
Rise in crime against minors in the district has sent ripples among the masses. The ones that stand out are the murders of children in separate incidents.

The incidents have sent chill down the spines of parents and reviled the sensibilities of human rights activists. The incidents have also affected the image of the police.

People feel that these murders remind that Gurgaon, believed to be progressing in terms of modernisation, is also concurrently hurtling down on the law and order front. This also takes the sheen off Gurgaon which was used to be preferred by investors both in business ventures and for residential purposes than the other developing townships like NOIDA and Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region (NCR). The one point that is claimed to have made the difference between Gurgaon and other emerging satellite towns of the NCR in its favour is the comparatively better law and order situation. But the recent crimes belie this claim.

The image of the police has taken a beating on its preparedness to prevent crime, especially against children. The notable among the incidents is the murder of Mukesh (9), a student of the local Kendriya Vidyalaya. He had reportedly gone to play outside his residence in Sector 7, but did not return. A ransom was demanded from his parents by the culprits. However, his body was found on the fourth day of his kidnapping in Sector 17. A person informed the Sadar police station on the telephone about the location of the body of Mukesh.

Another incidents reported on March 6 was the disappearance of Twinkle (8). He went out of his house in Mulahera at about 8.30 pm never to return alive. His body was found on March 10 in Sector 22.

The latest in the series of crime against minor children was the death of Yogesh, alias Rajesh. He was reported missing after he went out of his house in Kasan village, near here, to play in the evening on March 18. His body wrapped up in a gunny bag was later recovered from the residential complex of his uncle. He was strangled.

Chandigarh, March 31
In an unprecedented spurt in the demand for industrial plots in the states, the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) has allotted 397 industrial plots in its various industrial estates during the past two months. After implementation, these projects would envisage an investment of about Rs 620 crore.

While stating this here today, a spokesman of the HSIDC said a total of 163.13 acre was allotted in various sizes on February 26 and March 29 last. The spurt was being attributed to the aggressive marketing strategy adopted by the corporation for attracting investments to Haryana.

Sirsa, March 31
The district police has claimed to have arrested a murder accused, who was also declared a proclaimed offender under Section 302 of the IPC.

While giving this information here today the district police chief, Ms Mamta Singh, said the arrest had been made on a complaint by Palo of Tutikhera village in the district. She lodged her complaint on August 10, 2001, alleging that her husband Jeet Singh along with Laxman had gone to bring milk that day. Later Laxman informed her that her husband, Jeet Singh was hit with an iron rod on his head by Mighu Singh.

A case was registered against Mithu Singh under Section 307, IPC on her complaint. Jeet Singh was admitted to the local civil hospital from where he was referred to Rohtak Medical College. He succumbed to his injuries at Rohtak hospital.

Ambala, March 31
One person was killed on the Ambala-Hisar road near Ambala City in a road accident today morning. The deceased Amrik Singh was employed as a Head Constable in HAP Ist Battalion at Ambala City.

According to information, a vehicle hit him when he was going for a morning walk near the Manav Chowk. He was rushed to the Civil Hospital where doctors referred him to the PGI, Chandigarh, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Ambala, March 31
A wild animal suspected to be a leopard has attacked a resident of Jarot village, close to Ambala City, late last evening. The villager sustained injuries on his neck and back. The incident has created panic in the surrounding villages.