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Cong MPs lobby
for ministership
Sushma’s stand
draws flak
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Chautala promises
to visit all constituencies to remove grievances Haryana Shiromani
committee to contest SGPC elections Selja’s big victory ‘unexpected’
Former MLA Balu
Ram dead 2 die, 2 hurt in
mishaps
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Cong MPs lobby for ministership Karnal, May 16 Frontrunners for getting a ministerial berth include Mr Bhupendra Singh Hooda and former Union Minister Kumari Selja who have been elected Lok Sabha members from Rohtak and Ambala, respectively. However, industrial baron Naveen Jindal (Kurukshetra), Mr Kuldip Bishnoi (Bhiwani) and Dr Arvind Sharma (Karnal) are the other MP’s trying their best to stay at New Delhi to manage a ministerial berth. Among these five MP’s Kumari Selja is the strongest candidate by virtue of being not only a woman but also having the experience of managing the administrative affairs being a former Union Minister. Moreover, she is a neutral Congress leader in Haryana without ‘affiliation’ with a particular lobby. The Congress in Haryana despite winning nine out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats is faction-ridden. For quite sometime, Haryana had been a big trouble for the party high command to end factionalism but the efforts never succeeded. Although Mr Bhupendra Singh Hooda presently the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the Haryana Legislative Assembly and former President of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) stands good chance of getting a ministerial berth but the only thing that goes against him is his tirade against senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. A powerful lobby in the party high command believes that Mr Hooda had in the recent past given rise to factionalism within the party in Haryana despite repeated efforts for a patch-up between him and Mr Bhajan Lal. Since, Mr Bhajan Lal’s son Mr Kuldip Bishnoi has won the prestigious seat of Bhiwani, Hooda’s stand has weakened. The third main contender for the ministerial berth is the industrial baron Mr Naveen Jindal. He is young, dynamic and has the ‘power of money’; therefore, he could possibly be the choice of power brokers in the party high command. Dr Arvind Sharma who has been elected from Karnal is camping at New Delhi since the results were declared and is also trying to get a ministerial berth through the ‘power brokers’ but he stands nowhere in front of Mr Jindal’s candidature. Dr Sharma is considered close to Captain Satish Sharma, an associate of the Gandhi family but Captain Sharma himself has lost the Lok Sabha seat. Therefore, his chances of seeking a ministerial berth automatically becomes bleak. On the other hand, Mr Bhajan Lal would also try his best to get his son Mr Kuldip Bishnoi inducted into the ministry. Political observers believe that Haryana may get two ministers in the Union Council of Ministers but will it be on merit or ‘power brokers choice’ or just to balance the political equations so as to shun factionalism, no one is quite sure about it. |
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Sushma’s stand draws flak Chandigarh, May 16 Mrs Swaraj has reportedly said in a TV interview that she could not bring herself to address Mrs Gandhi as "Madam Prime Minister". Her husband, Mr Swaraj Kaushal, was elected to the Rajya Sabha on the ticket of the Haryana Vikas Party. His term expires in another two months. Congressmen of the region have reacted sharply to Mrs Swaraj's statement and have described it as "the negation of the people's verdict". The Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Rohtak, described Mrs Swaraj's statement as "amateurish". He said she was trying to endear herself to the RSS by making childish statements "in the hope of better future prospects in the BJP". A senior Congress leader and newly elected MP from Ambala, Ms Selja, said Mrs Swaraj's statement was "unfortunate" as she was a seasoned parliamentarian and she should have respected the people's verdict. The newly elected first-time MP from Kurukshetra, Mr Naveen Jindal, said it was for Mrs Swaraj to decide what she had to do. The people's verdict in favour of Mrs Gandhi to lead the country was a reality which would not be reversed by Mrs Swaraj quitting the Rajya Sabha. He was surprised at what made Mrs Swaraj to take such a decision. He said Mrs Swaraj should play the role of a constructive opposition in the Rajya Sabha instead of prejudging a person. Another first-time MP from Bhiwani, Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, said Mrs Swaraj's statement was "absurd" and showed her "closed mind", which refused to respect democratic traditions of honouring the people's verdict. He said the statement showed a streak of "stubborn fundamentalism" in the personality of Mrs Swaraj. The President of the All-India Youth Congress, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, said such a statement was not expected from Mrs Swaraj, whose "political upbringing had been in socialist milieu". He said it seemed that Mrs Swaraj had been more saffronised than even those who were born in the RSS. The Secretary of the Haryana Congress, Mr Sat Pal Kaushik, regretted that Mrs Swaraj's statement went against the grain of Haryanvi culture, which taught a person to be open minded and large hearted. Mrs Swaraj belongs to Haryana. The Haryana Dalit Jan Kalyan Samiti President, Ms Seema Bahadur, also ridiculed Mrs Swaraj's statement that her self-respect did not allow her to be in the Rajya Sabha after Mrs Gandhi became the Prime Minister. Ms Bahadur said Mrs Swaraj should do something more dramatic than quitting the Rajya Sabha to "vindicate her self-respect". |
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Chautala promises to visit all constituencies to remove grievances
Narwana (Jind), May 16 Mr Chautala said he was committed to ensure all-round development of the state with the active co-operation of all strata of the society, adding that unless people were provided with all the basic amenities and the fruit of the development percolated down to the poorest of the poor, the prosperity and development were meaningless. The Chief Minister was hearing the grievances of the people at Dablain village in Narwana sub-division of district Jind. He announced to strengthen the public grievances redressal system and make it more effective and responsive by constituting public grievances redressal committees at sub divisional level in the state. These committees would meet every month to hear and redress the grievances of the public on the spot. He said he himself would visit all the Assembly constituencies to take stock of the problems being faced by the people of the state and would seek to redress them on the spot. He thanked the people of the Narwana constituency for extending whole hearted support to INLD candidate in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The people of the Narwana assembly constituency applauded the announcement of the Chief Minister that he would again contest next Assembly election from this constituency. He appealed to the people of all sections of society to live in peace and harmony and contribute their might in the development process of the state. The Chief Minister said his government would ensure remunerative prices to the farmers of their produce and government jobs on merit to the youth. The streets of the Dalit bastis would be made of cement and concrete and drains would be made on the either side of the streets, besides constructing communities latrines for the women in these bastis, he added.
— UNI |
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Haryana Shiromani committee to contest SGPC elections Kurukshetra, May 16 Mr Jhinda alleged that the Akalis in Punjab had violated the Gurdwara Act by exploiting the Sikhs of Haryana and running the SGPC, watching their own interests. Although, according to the SGPC Act, the elections to the SGPC should be held after every five years, yet after 1986, three elections were going to be held in 2004. Moreover, the HSGPC (Ad hoc), earlier had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for these elections and consequently, the Court had directed the SGPC to hold these elections on July 11, 2004, he added. On this occasion, the HSGPC’s election manifesto was also released. The HSGPC (Ad hoc), general secretary, Mr Deedar Singh Kamboj, said that restoration of historic Gurdwaras in Haryana, establishment of a separate Sikh University in Haryana, giving second language status to Punjabi language in Haryana and completion Miri Piri medical college and Nursing college at Shahabad (M), in this district, were the issues
mentioned in the HSGPC (Ad hoc) election manifesto. They will also call on Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala to demand passing of the HSGPC’s Bill as of the Waqaf Board, he added. Shah Harpal Singh Dachar, Mr Jagtaar Singh Kamboj, Mr Joga Singh, Mr Nawab Singh, Mr Jarnail Singh, Mr Khushpal Singh, Mr Iqbal Singh Waraich, Mr Surjeet Singh, Mr Inder Singh, Mr Sher Singh, Mr Ujagar Singh and Mr Sukhwant Singh were among those, who attended the meeting. |
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Selja’s big victory ‘unexpected’
Ambala, May 16 The Congress candidate, Kumari Selja, won by a margin of 2,34,934 votes, while her nearest rival, BJP candidate Ratan Lal Kataria, got 1,80,330 votes. The INLD candidate, Mr Balwant Singh, got 1,30,972 votes. Moreover, the Congress candidate got a big lead in all nine Assembly segments of the constituency. In Ambala City, she got a lead of 21,140 votes while in Ambala Cantonment, it was 15,927. In Mulana, the Congress maintained a lead of 27,648 votes, whereas in Naraingarh, it got 27,032 more votes than the BJP. In the Naggal Assembly constituency, the Congress candidate polled 23342 more votes than the BJP candidate. In Sadhora, it achieved a lead of 27,032 votes, in Jagadhri, 27,198, in Chichroli, 15,952 and in Kalka, 39,335. In Kalka, the Congress secured 72,975 votes, a record. The BSP, which has a committed vote bank, did not fare well in this elections as the president of the state unit of the party, Mr Ashok Sherwal, and other senior leaders joined the INLD during the election campaign. The BSP candidate Mr Chander Pal, got 57,028 votes while in the last elections, the party had secured 83,644 votes. In 1998, its candidate was elected MP from Ambala by securing 2,73,792 votes. The HVP had filed former BSP state president Aman Kumar Nagara but he could get only 22,084 votes. The newly formed Haryana Akali Dal was banking on Sikh votes but its candidate, Mr Raonak Singh, received only 7,324 votes. Ekta Shakti candidate Ranbir Singh Bhumbak got the support of 13,292 voters. Meanwhile, a former MP and BJP leader, Mr Ratan Lal Kataria, said he never expected that Kumari Selja would win by such a huge margin. Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Kataria said he welcomed the decision of the electorate. He observed that his assessment on the basis of interaction with people had showed that it would be a close fight. “But I admit that it is a major defeat. We were wrong in our assessment,” he said. “The anti-incumbency factor affected us in Haryana. Although, we fought the election alone, public perception was that we were party to the anti-people’s policies of Chautala. This wrong perception affected us,” he said. Mr Kataria said although he had lost the election, he had stood second among BJP candidates in terms of number of votes polled. “While I had received 53 per cent votes in 1999, I got 22 per cent votes this time. I wish Kumari Selja the very best,” he said. He pointed out that Kumari Selja’s “first public appearance” was when she tried to protect her colleague who was involved in an unsavoury incident at the Konkpur polling booth. |
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Former MLA Balu Ram dead Fatehabad, May 16 Mr Balu Ram was the first ever MLA from Fatehabad and was elected to the joint Punjab assembly in 1953. |
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2 die, 2 hurt in mishaps Sirsa, May 16 According to information three employees of the cable operator of local Khairpur colony
namely: Sunder, Satbir and Om Parkash were standing outside their office on the highway at 9 pm when a bus speeding from the direction of the bus stand lost control and dragged them along till it dashed into the electricity transformer. Sunder died on the spot while the other two were admitted to the local civil hospital in a serious condition. The driver of the truck is absconding. In another accident Brij Lal a resident of Jhandapur was coming in a jeep to Sirsa when his jeep’s tyre burst near Sardulgarh Brij Lal was injured seriously and was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead. |
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Army recruitment Fatehabad, May 15 |
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