Sonepat, January 19
A former Rajasthan Governor and senior BJP leader Mr Madal Lal Khurana launched the party’s poll campaign here last night by criticising the INLD and the Congress, particularly the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre and the Tamil Nadu Government, headed by Ms J. Jayalalithaa.

Addressing a public meeting, he said the main contest during the elections in Haryana was between the BJP and the Congress as the defeat of the INLD was certain. He said it was for the first time that the BJP was contesting the elections on its own in all constituencies and since the INLD was not in the contest anywhere, there would be a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress.

Mr Khurana said the Congress was on a sticky wicket because of the SYL canal issues as nobody could believe that a Congress Chief Minister in Punjab could arbitrarily terminate all interstate agreements on sharing of the waters.

He alleged that this was done with the connivance of Ms Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. He said the Prime Minister should clarify whether he stood by what Punjab had done or that he supported the people of Haryana on this issue. This, he said, was important because this canal was the lifeline of the state.

Terming the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre as anti-people, he said the prices of all essential commodities had risen in the country and the common people were hit.

He appealed to the people to vote in favour of the BJP in the Assembly elections. He also condemned the arrest of the Kanchi Shankaracharya by the Tamil Nadu Government and described it an act against the Hindus, who would not tolerate it any more.

Rewari, January 19
The INLD supremo and Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, while touring the Ahirwal segments on his Vijay Rath today asserted that the electoral scenario had radically changed in favour of the INLD and his party was well-poised to secure a two-third majority in the ensuing Assembly poll in Haryana.

He said his government would provide a stable and competent government and usher in an era of holistic prosperity and opulence in the state. He said completion of the SYL canal would be on top of the agenda of his government. He said they would again approach the apex court for issuance of a directive to the Central Government to expedite its completion through a central organisation.

Commenting upon the state of affairs in the Haryana Congress, the INLD supremo said those who levelled charges of political dynasty and nepotism on the 'Chautalas' had now themselves distributed tickets to their sons and relatives much to the chagrin of hundreds of other aspirants. This had resulted in the entry of numerous rebel candidates into the poll fray who were definitely going to pay rich dividends to the INLD, he added.

Mr Chautala further said that it was true that knowingly or unknowingly the people of Haryana had almost voted enbloc for the Congress during the Loksabha poll, but now there was a sea change in the situation and the pendulum of acceptability had again started oscillating towards the INLD.

Regarding the BJP, he said the party would not be able to open its account in the forthcoming Assembly poll in the state. After covering the two constituencies of Gurgaon and Pataudi (reserved), the INLD chief's Vijay Rath entered Palhawas village which marks the beginning of the Jatusana constituency of Rewari district.

His rath made brief stoppages at Palhawas, Rohrai, Lala, Berli, Jatusana, Kanwali, Dahina and Kanina villages where Mr Chautala, along with the INLD candidate, Mr Jagdish Yadav, was accorded a rousing reception by cheering crowds.

The party functionaries and the villagers presented him purses and garlands of currency notes amounting to Rs 1,87,900. Elated at such enthusiastic response from the people of Jatusana constituency, the INLD chief said he was delighted to witness such a transformation of the Yadavas who appeared inclined to vote for the party in sharp contrast to their past preference for the Congress. 

Ambala, January 19
Dissidents in the Congress as well as BJP in the Mullana (reserved) Assembly constituency seem to be keeping their cards close to their chest.

While dissidents have avoided a direct confrontation with the party candidate by not fielding rebel candidates, all does not seem to be well within the respective political camps. Unlike Ambala Cantt and Ambala City where the battlelines are well-defined, it is not so in Mullana.

Former Haryana minister Phool Chand Mullana is the Congress candidate in Mullana. Congress leaders like Mr Amarnath Baggan, Mr Nadar Chand Jalubi and Mr Gian Adhoya were keen for the party ticket but they failed to get it. The allocation of ticket to Mr Mullana has caused heart-burn among the ticket aspirants.

The BJP camp too is facing a similar predicament. The BJP candidate is Mr Arun Kumar, who is the son of former Governor of Haryana and Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Dr Suraj Bhan. Mr Mange Ram Panjail was a strong contender for the ticket. At one point of time, Mr Panjail’s supporters had received news that he had been allocated ticket but within hours they learnt that the ticket had been given to Mr Arun Kumar.

Haryana minister Risal Singh is the INLD candidate here. Mr Risal Singh has been MLA for two consecutive terms. This time even his son, Mr Rajbir, was being considered for the INLD ticket from Mullana. However, there is no dissident activity in the INLD.

The dissidents in the Congress are believed to have decided not to desert the party. But they are not too enthusiastic about helping out the official Congress nominee. The dissidents are hopeful that the Congress will form the new government and they are hoping that they will be suitably accommodated.

Apparently, senior Congress leaders have already directed the ticket hopefuls that they should not act in haste and they should not take steps which could damage the party nominee’s chances of victory on the hustings. The dissidents seem to be paying heed to the high command’s diktat.

Hisar, January 19
The Congress MP from Kurukshetra, Mr Naveen Jindal, has asked the electorate not to vote for Independent candidates as they neither have issues, nor a well-defined policy. Also, they are unlikely to have a role or say in the state Assembly.

Mr Naveen Jindal said this while addressing a public meeting here today. He was in the city to campaign for his father and noted industrialist, Mr O.P.Jindal, who is in the fray for the Hisar Assembly seat as the Congress candidate.

He specifically targeted Mr Hari Singh Saini, an Independent contesting the Hisar Assembly seat, though without naming him. He cautioned the gathering against voting for any Independent candidate, as they were “prone to horse-trade.”

The Congress MP admitted that despite being elected to the state Assembly twice, his father could not do much for the city as he was in the Opposition. He had , however, done his best for the betterment of the city.

Mr Naveen Jindal claimed that there was a wave in favour of the Congress in the state, adding that the party would win around 80 seats . Regarding the revolt by several members of the Congress, he said there was nothing unusual in it.

Mr Hari Singh Saini also addressed a series of public meetings in Dhandoor and Gangwa villages, which form part of the Hisar Assembly segment. He reiterated that the sitting.

Kaithal, January 19
The nominations of 16 candidates were rejected after scrutiny of papers filed by 75 aspirants for five Assembly constituencies of this district .

The District Election Officer, Mr H.S. Malik, said in Pai Assembly constituency 12 candidates filed their papers out of which papers filed by Kamlesh, BJP (covering ), Harphool Singh, INC (covering) and Mohinder Singh, Ekta Shakti (covering) were rejected.

In Kaithal constituency, 20 candidates had filed their papers out of which papers of five were rejected , these included Raj Rani, INLD (covering), Ram Singh, BSP, Joginder (Ind), Chander Bhan (Ind) and Raj Kumar (Ind). The District Electoral Officer said in Pundri out of 20 papers of four were rejected. They were Anil (BSP), Gulab (INC), Neeraj (INC) and Surinder (BSP).

In Kalayat constituency, out of 11 nominations three of Mohan (INC), Suresh (LJSP), and Sanjeev (IND) were rejected.

For Guhla, 12 nominations were filed out of which papers of Roshan Lal (LJSP) was rejected due to lack of supporting documents.

Chandigarh, January 19
Over 1.27 crore (to be exactly 1,27,35,067) voters will cast their votes for the Haryana Assembly elections on February 3 next. These include 69,03,254 men and 58,31,813 women.

The Mewla Maharajpur constituency in Faridabad district has the maximum number of 3,36,587 electors. These include 1,86,341 men and 1,50,246 women voters.

The Ambala cantonment constituency has the lowest number of 85,131 electors, which include 44,731 men and 40,400 women voters.

The total number of electors in the state include 77,090 service electors including 50,112 males and 26,978 females.

Fatehabad, January 19
The arrest of a lawyer and six farmers by the police last evening has evoked sharp criticism from various quarters here. Condemning the arrest, the District Bar Association today decided to strike work till January 21.

The incident occurred when a large number of farmers gathered at the local grain market alleging black marketing of urea by traders.

With a view to garner support of the irate farmers, BJP nominee Durgesh Arora, CPM nominee Krishan Swaroop, BJP activist and lawyer Joginder Singh Virk, CPM activist Devi Lal and a large number of BJP and CPM workers reached the scene and joined the agitating farmers in their protest. The farmers broke open the lock of the godown of a local trader and took out bags of urea from it.

The police reached the scene and dispersed the farmers. It arrested Virk and six other farmers and registered cases against Satbir Singh, Ram Swaroop, Jarnail Singh, Roshan Lal, Kulwant Singh and Ram Narain, besides him, under Sections 148, 149, 186, 188, 332, 353, 386 and 506 of the IPC and Sections 8-AB and 9 of the National Highway Act.

The arrested were produced before Judicial Magistrate Ritu Y. K. Bahl today, who remanded them in judicial custody till January 29.

The Magistrate also served a notice on the state for January 21 on the bail application put forth by those arrested.

At a meeting, members of the District Bar Association resolved to suspend work till January 21 and demanded the withdrawal of case against Virk and registration of criminal cases against those responsible for black marketing.

Meanwhile, the District Election Office has directed the officers concerned with elections to implement the directions of the Election Commission on campaigning by candidates.

At a meeting of returning officers of the district, election observers and other officers, District Election Officer Mahtab Singh Sehrawat directed them to restrict the use of loudspeakers by candidates and their supporters from 6 am to 11 pm.

Bhiwani, January 19
The court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Mr Surender Kumar, sentenced seven persons, including two women, to life imprisonment for attacking and murdering a person at Kitlana village in 2002.

One of the accused, however, has died during the course of hearing.

According to prosecution, Hawa Singh, Parkash, Jagdish, Balwan, Davinder, Murti Devi and Gindodi, armed with swords, lathis and pharsi entered the house of Maan Singh of Kitlana and injured Maan Singh, Sajjan, his wife Anju, Sarti and his uncle Azad Singh seriously on March 20, 2002. Maan Singh succumbed to his injuries later.

The police had registered a case under Sections 148,323,452, 302 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code on the statement of Maan Singh. All the accused were arrested by the police.

The court awarded life imprisonment under Section 302, IPC, to all the accused and fined Rs 2,000. The accused will have to undergo additional one-year imprisonment in case they failed to pay the fine.

Hisar, January 19
Nearly 100 farm scientists from all over the country converged on the premises of Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here today to participate in a two-day national symposium on the management of organic wastes for crop production. The symposium is being organised by the Department of Microbiology of the university.

The participants will deliberate on various issues like crop residue management, utilisation of agro-industrial wastes and sewage sludge in agriculture and integrated plant nutrient supply, apart from organic farming.

The HAU Vice-Chancellor, Mr M.K. Miglani, was the chief guest at the inaugural function. He called upon the scientists to device techniques for the management of the organic wastes which were posing threat to environment as well as crop production. “Excessive and imbalanced use of chemical fertilisers and other agro-chemicals is adding to the problem of environmental degradation. On the other hand, over-exploitation of soil nutrients by crops has been posing threat of food insecurity,” he pointed out.

Mr Miglani said these problems could be solved to a large extent by proper utilisation of organic wastes of plant as well as animal origin, for which farm scientists were needed to develop effective techniques.

Speaking on the occasion, the Director of Research, HAU, Dr B.S. Dahiya, pointed out that the Green Revolution was not achieved merely by developing high-yielding varieties of crops alone, but also by replenishing the starving soil. He exhorted the delegates to come out with concrete recommendations for sustaining agro-ecosystem.

Earlier, Dr I.S. Sheoran, Dean, College of Basic Sciences, delivered a welcome speech. The organising secretary, Dr B.S.Kundu, and the executive secretary, Dr K.K.Kapoor, also spoke. Mr Miglani released a set of four manuals published by different departments of the College of Basic Sciences of the university.

Fatehabad, January 19
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Mahtab Singh Sehrawat, said today that urea would be made available in all grain markets of the district from January 20.

In a press release issued here today, Mr Sehrawat assured the farmers that the fertiliser would be distributed among farmers under the supervision of officers of the Agriculture Department so that no trader could sell the fertiliser in black market.