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Sonia Gandhi to decide on Panthers Party NC perturbed over poor show in LS
poll Six militants among eight killed in J&K Posthumous honour for Dogra soldiers |
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Sonia Gandhi to decide on Panthers Party Jammu, May 16 According to a senior Congress leader, who holds a ministerial
post, the AICC President and the Kashmir Chief Minister were likely to meet in Delhi after the formation of the new Government at the Centre to finalise removal of the Panthers Party from the coalition. The Minister said that the charge against Panthers Party Chief, Prof. Bhim Singh, and his four MLAs, including the Education Minister, Mr Harsh Dev Singh, was that they campaigned against Congress candidates in Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha constituencies in the recent poll. Hitherto, Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed
Sayeed, had opposed the Congress idea of throwing the Panthers Party out of the coalition Government. He was satisfied with the performance of Mr Harsh Dev Singh as Education Minister. However, the recent anti-Mufti campaign launched by Prof Bhim Singh is said to have irked the Chief Minister who, after the victory of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Poll, may not be in a position to veto the Congress suggestions. Already the Congress, which has now 18 MLAs, after two were elected to the Lok Sabha, has kept its doors open for MLAs belonging to the Peoples’ Democratic Front
(PDF). The PDF has 13 MLAs and seven of them are said to have expressed their desire to join the Congress. A Congress Minister said “we may now ensure that the permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill divesting women, who marry non-state subjects, of the right to inherit property in the state, adopted by the Assembly and awaiting adoption by the Legislative Council, remains under the carpet.” |
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NC perturbed over poor show in LS
poll Jammu, May 16 The NC never did so badly in the constituency as it did this time. The party nominee, Dr Mehboob Beg, who is a sitting MLA, managed to get a thin lead of 34 votes over Ms Mehbooba Mufti, president of the PDP, in the Pampore area that is one of the 16 segments in the constituency. South Kashmir has remained the stronghold of the NC in the past. No one could even dream of dislodging the party that when Mr Mirza Afzal Beg, father of Dr Beg, was alive. However, this time the PDP has bagged the seat. The Anantnag constituency witnessed terrorist violence on the day of polling as the militant groups tried to create a scare among the electorate whom they had called for boycott of the election. The President of the NC, Mr Omar Abdullah, said the top leaders of the organisation would meet soon to review the party’s debacle, particularly in the South Kashmir. The PDP has been growing stronger in this part as it won 10 of the 16 seats in the two districts in the last Assembly elections in 2002. The NC had won 2 seats. But what has become the cause of worry for the NC leaders is that Dr Beg received a drubbing from Ms Mufti even in his own Assembly segment of Anantnag. The percentage of votes polled by the NC this time in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency was 23.63 which was the lowest in the five elections that the party has contested from there since 1980. The highest percentage of 97.69 votes polled by the party was in 1989 when Mr P.L. Handoo was the candidate and the voter turnout was just 5.07 per cent because of terrorist threats. However, in the last elections in 1999, the party polled 37.66 per cent votes and defeated Mufti Sayeed who contested as an Independent. It is being said that the NC always won the seat when it was in power, but it lost when it contested while being out of the throne. Political observers were blaming Mr Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (CPM) of having played a spoilsport for the NC by jumping into the fray although he was supporting the coalition government of the Mufti. They claim that it was a tacit decision of Mr Tarigami to contest so that he could prevent the anti-establishment votes from going to the NC. Mr Omar Abdullah maintained his lead in 12 of the 15 Assembly segments in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. The segments where the PDP went ahead of him are, Chadoora, Khansahib and Charar-i-Sharief. The performance of the NC was not up to the mark also in the Udhampur constituency of which the Doda district is also a part. The NC, that had won 2 Assembly seats in the Doda district, this time has been broomed out of all segments. Of the 17 Assembly segments in the constituency, it was able to maintain its lead in only one segment of Gulabgarh in the Udhampur district. The NC candidate, Mr Khalid Najeeb Surawardhy, failed to muster majority votes even in his own hometown of Doda. It was the tussle between the PDP and the Congress, both coalition partners, that made Mr Abdul Rasheed Shaheen of the NC retain the Baramulla seat by polling 38.13 per cent votes. The two coalition partners had fielded their respective candidates who made the going smooth for Mr Shaheen. The PDP candidate, Mr Nizamuddin Bhat, polled 35.18 per cent votes, while Mr Ghulam Rasool Kar of the Congress cut 18.61 per cent votes. The Congress was now realising its mistake of having fielded its candidate who simply kept its allies seat out of the kitty. In the Muslim dominated belt of the Jammu constituency, the NC got a lead only in the Mendhar and Poonch segments of the Poonch district. |
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Six militants among eight killed in J&K Srinagar, May 16 A Defence Ministry spokesman said troops of 5 PARA launched a search operation on the upper reaches of Goran village in Anantnag district last evening following a tip-off. During the operation, the militants fired upon the search party with automatic weapons from several directions, to which the troops retaliated. The gunfight continued till this morning, he said and added in the night-long encounter four militants were killed. Two AK-56 rifles, one pistol, one RPG launcher and a wireless set were seized from the slain militants. He said the identity of the slain militants were yet to be established. An official spokesman said a person was killed during an encounter between militants and the security forces at Arsipora Shopian village in Pulwama district last evening. The militants fired a rifle grenade towards a security force picket at Sheikh Mohalla Sopore in Baramulla district last night causing injuries to two security jawans. The injured jawans were immediately shifted to hospital, he said and added a massive hunt has been launched to nab the militants. The security forces recovered one pistol, 15 UNGL grenades, one RPG, seven rocket fuses, one grenade, seven detonators from a militant hideout at Kenyanwali Gali in the frontier district of Kupwara last evening while a joint team of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the security forces during a search operation at Authoora Kreeri village recovered some arms and ammuntion from a militant hideout, he said. A report from Jammu said, that acting on a tip-off, the security forces carried out searches in Dodaj Madoon in Darhal area of Rajouri district at about 6 am today when two militants fired upon them. The troops returned the fire. In the ensuing encounter that lasted four hours, the troops shot dead both the militants whose identity was yet to be ascertained. A group of militants last night shot dead Mir Hussain at Chachal in Banihal in the presence of his family members at his house. Later, they fled from the scene. —
UNI |
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Posthumous honour for Dogra soldiers Jammu, May 16 Sepoy Bhuku Ram of 13 Dogra, who laid down his life during the 1962 Indo-China war, was posthumously awarded the badge of sacrifice and certificate of honour by the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. NC Vij. “Although the award came to him after 42 years, we still thank the Army Chief, who himself is a brave Dogra officer,” said Kaka Ram, a relative of the martyr soldier. Like him, 10 other soldiers of the Dogra Regiment were also posthumously awarded the Sena Medal today by the Sunjwan military station commander, Brig. J P Nehra on behalf of the Army Chief. “No job is greater than protecting the integrity of the nation,” said Brig. Nehra while presenting the awards to the kin of the martyr soldiers. He also lauded the martyrs’acts of valour as “supreme sacrifice.” The other soldiers who were posthumously awarded the Sena Medal included Naiks — Charan Das, Chaman Lal, Surender Singh, Ramesh Singh, Darshan Lal, Dhian Singh; Lance Naik Parveen Singh and Sepoys — Sham Singh and Pritam Lal. —
PTI |
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