Chandigarh, May 8
The Haryana Government is jubilant over a recent Supreme Court order upholding the UP Government’s right to fix the price of sugarcane to be paid to the farmers by the mills in the state.

The private mills in Haryana also objected to pay the cane farmers at the rate fixed by the state government and approached the court when the state government tried to armtwist them into submission. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, following petitions filed by the private mills, stayed the state government’s order and asked the private mills to pay the farmers the statutory minimum price(SMP) of cane fixed by the Central Government.

The order was challenged by the state government in the Supreme Court where its petition was clubbed with the petition filed by the UP Government. Sources in the Haryana Cane Commissioner’s office said while the court upheld the UP Government’s right to fix price of cane, the petition filed by the Haryana Government was sent back to the High Court at Chandigarh for a decision.

Though the rate of cane fixed by the Haryana Government was essentially a political decision, officials here feel that the precedence set by the apex court for UP would strengthen the Haryana Government’s position in the court. The Cane Commissioner’s office here is taking an active interest in the SC order and had formally intimated the Principal Secretary, Agriculture, and the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister about the decision.

It may, however, be noted that it is not the three private mills in the state only which objected to pay the farmers the SAP. The cooperative sugar mills of Haryana are also insisting that they should be allowed to pay the farmers the SMP so that they do not run into losses.

The Haryana State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Mills(Sugarfed) had in a report submitted in August last year attributed the moribund condition of 11 sugar mills in the state to the state government’s decision to pay the farmers at the SAP. Sugarfed said the cooperative mills should be allowed to pay the SMP to the farmers to avoid suffering further losses.

The SAP was Rs 104, Rs 106 and Rs 110 per quintal for different varieties of cane last year. The SMP for the corresponding period was Rs 69.50 per quintal. The state government retained the same rate for this year also to nurture its core political constituency constituted by the farmers. The SMP, which was increased by Rs 4 per quintal than last year’s price, has remained substantially lower than the SAP.

Chandigarh, May 8
He wriggled out of contesting in the Lok Sabha elections, saying that he would like to keep himself free for campaigning in all the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

Mr Bhajan Lal, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief, however, is spending most of his time in the Bhiwani constituency only from where his son, Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, is contesting. Mr Bishnoi is locked in a contest with two heavyweights, Mr Ajay Chautala of the ruling Indian National Lok Dal and Mr Surender Singh of the Haryana Vikas Party which considers Bhiwani its bastion. The fight in Bhiwani is considered a make-or-mar contest for Mr Bhajan Lal, which explains his preoccupation there.

In addition, the HPCC chief has found time to campaign in the Sirsa, Karnal and Sonepat constituencies. The candidates in these constituencies received his backing in getting the party ticket.

In the remaining six constituencies of Rohtak, Mahendragarh, Kurukshetra, Hisar, Faridabad and Ambala, the HPCC chief has not campaigned at all. Mr Bhajan Lal does not have a good equation with the candidates in these seats, some of whom got the ticket from the party despite opposition from him. It is believed that the candidates in the six segments have not shown any interest in getting Mr Bhajan Lal’s services for winning the elections.

The six candidates are Ms Selja from Ambala, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Rohtak, Mr Avtar Singh Bhadana from Faridabad, Mr Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra, Rao Inderjit Singh from Mahendragarh and Mr Jai Parkash from Hisar.

By not contesting the elections for the Lok Sabha himself, Mr Bhajan Lal wanted to give a message to the people that he had been kept reserved by the party high command for fighting the assembly elections and become the next Chief Minister in case the Congress comes to power in Haryana.

Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Leader of the Opposition in Haryana and also an aspirant for the CM’s post, failed to succeed in his attempt to rope in Mr Bhajan Lal to contest the elections. Mr Hooda, who is fighting the elections from Rohtak, has not campaigned for the Congress candidates in the state either, except for visiting Hisar on a couple of occasions and going to a public meeting at Mahendragarh in the company of Ms Sonia Gandhi.

Rohtak, May 8
Former Union Minister Pramod Mahajan said here today that if the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was given another term to run the country, it would solve all major problems the nation was grappling with at present.

Addressing an election meeting on the HUDA grounds, he said the country had seen unprecedented development under Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee and India was bound to emerge as a major international power within the next few years if Mr Vajpayee was allowed to run the country again. He said the May 10 polling date coincided with the beginning of the country’s first war of independence in 1857 when Mangal Pandey fired the first bullet at the British. If the people voted for the Congress, it would definitely hurt Pandey’s feelings who wanted India for Indians.

Rohtak, May 8
Senior Congress leader Natwar Singh said here today that the Congress was poised to form the next government at the Centre.

Addressing an election rally organised at the local Jat College grounds marking the end of the party’s campaign in Haryana, he said the Congress and its allies would romp home with enough seats to oust the NDA government and head the next government.

He said if the Congress nominee for this seat, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was elected MP he would first be inducted into the Congress ministry at the Centre and later he would be the Chief Minister of Haryana after the assembly poll which was expected to follow the Lok Sabha poll.

Mr Natwar Singh said the Vajpayee government had proved to be a failure on several fronts, including defence and foreign affairs. The Kargil war was the result of one such blunder by the NDA government and the country’s prestige had been lowered internationally during the past years.

Criticising the BJP for seeking votes in the name of religion, he said it was the Congress which had kept the nation together under testing circumstances after Independence. The nation could not be left in the hands of those who begged for votes on religious issues and kept society divided on religious lines.

He also attacked Mr Vajpayee personally and said because of his advanced age the Prime Minister had become forgetful.

Mr Hooda in his speech said he never favoured one area of the state over the other. However, he had been fighting for an equitable share in the resources for all areas. He said if elected an MP now, he was sure to be the next Chief Minister of Haryana and in that capacity he would ensure the progress of all regions. He said his opponents were novices who did not even understand politics.

Former minister Kartari Devi presided over the rally which was attended by six Congress MLAs excluding Mr Hooda. Several former ministers and legislators were also present.

Ambala, May 8
Hectic canvassing took place on the last day of campaigning for the Ambala reserved Lok Sabha constituency today.

The candidates in the fray along with their supporters tried to reach out to maximum voters. The campaigning came to an end at 5 pm.

A rally was taken out by the Indian National Lok Dal. The motor cycle-cum-scooter rally passed through various parts of the constituency. A large number of INLD activists participated in the rally.

At Durga Nagar, the rally was flagged off by the INLD candidate, Mr Balwant Singh. It was led by the local MLA, Mr Jasbir Mallour. Similar rallies were take out in Mullana, Naraingarh, Sadhaura, Chachrauli and Jagadhari.

Congress activists also continued their door-to-door campaigning. The local unit president, Mr Ashok Jain, said they carried out “padyatras” in different wards.

The process of distributing bags containing voters’ list and stationery to their polling agents was also carried out by the Congress. They were also briefed about the electronic voting machines.

Panchkula, May 8
Members of the Citizens Welfare Association, Panchkula, while interacting with Ms Selja. Congress candidate from the Ambala parliamentary constituency, made her aware of the problems being faced by the city residents.

Office-bearers of various residents welfare associations of Panchkula extended their support to the Congress and expressed their solidarity with her. They assured her that the associations would vote for her in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Karnal, May 8
Various Sikh organisations here decided to support Indian National Lok Dal, (INLD) candidate Ashok Arora.

According to observers, the Congress, INLD and the BJP are now evenly poised in this constituency.

Karnal, May 8
Campaigning in the Karnal constituency ended today after various political parties made their last-ditch efforts to woo the voters. Prominent candidates from here include Union Minister of State for Home I.D. Swami (BJP), former MP Arvind Sharma (Congress), Transport Minister of Haryana Ashok Arora (INLD), Mr Raj Kumar Sharma (Ekta Shakti) and Mr Ram Chandra Jhangra of the Haryana Vikas Party.

A total of 12,37,275 voters, including 5,67,615 women, would seal the fate of 20 candidates in the fray. There are 1,213 polling stations in the constituency comprising Karnal and Panipat districts.

The law and order machinery is tightening its grip over sensitive pockets to ensure free and fair polling. With reinforcements from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Haryana Police and the Haryana Armed Police, the local administration has drawn up an elaborate election security scheme. A flag march was organised yesterday to instil confidence among the voters.

Though Karnal has no history of large-scale poll violence, at least in the recent decades, the police machinery is gearing to handle all eventualities. While a special control room has been established, the intelligence sleuths have stepped up surveillance in all 145 sensitive polling stations. “Of the 145 sensitive polling stations, 73 are hypersensitive”, said the Returning Officer-cum-District Magistrate, Mr R.S. Doon.

Chandigarh, May 8
The petition of a retired Inspector General of Police of Haryana, Mr L.D. Narwal, came up for hearing before a Division Bench of the High Court on Friday.

Ambala, May 8
Burglars have struck twice at the same house here in the past 10 days.

A resident of Nadi Mohalla, Mr Arjun Das Sachdeva, who deals in exchange of currency notes has informed the police that on April 27 burglars decamped with Rs 1.6 lakh kept in the house.

Yesterday, another Rs 1.1 lakh were stolen from the same house. In a letter to the Superintendent of Police, Mr Sachdeva pleaded that an FIR be registered in both the cases.