A veteran of 7 Lok Sabha polls, Maharaj not to contest this time
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Pauri garhwal, March 15
Veteran Congress leader and preacher Satpal Maharaj ‘Rawat’ has categorically refused to contest the 16th Lok Sabha elections even from his home seat of Pauri Garhwal. Barring 2004, Satpal Maharaj has since 1989 fought the parliamentary elections from Pauri Garhwal on the Congress ticket.

He defeated BJP candidate Lt Gen TPS Rawat (retd) by a handsome margin in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Barring 1996 when he contested on the All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) ticket, he had been a natural candidate of the Congress.

In fact, taking into account all five parliamentary constituencies in Uttarakhand, Satpal Maharaj is the lone candidate who has fought every Lok Sabha elections from one constituency.

Satpal Maharaj fought the Lok Sabha elections for the first time in 1989 but lost to Janata Dal heavyweight Chandra Mohan Singh Negi by a slender margin of 1,007 votes.

In 1991, he fought the 10th Lok Sabha elections from Pauri Garhwal against BC Khanduri of the BJP but was defeated by a margin of 25,013 votes.

However, he fought the general elections in 1996 on the All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) ticket and defeated Khanduri by a margin of 15,000 odd votes. He then became a Union minister.

Satpal Maharaj first became the Union Minister of State for Railways and was later appointed the Union Minister of State for Finance for a short time during the coalition governments headed by HD Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral.

In 1998, he suffered a crushing defeat by a margin of 174,947 votes at the hands of Khanduri in the 12th Lok Sabha elections. He again lost to Khanduri in 1999 though the margin of 29,682 votes was significantly less than that of the 1998 parliamentary elections. Khanduri defeated Satpal Maharaj from Pauri Garhwal for the third time in 1999. He became a Union Cabinet minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government.

Though the BJP-led NDA lost the 14th Lok Sabha elections in 2004, Khanduri again won the Pauri Garhwal seat defeating arch rival Satpal Maharaj’s protégée Lt Gen TPS Rawat by 50,000 votes.

The BJP came to power in Uttarakhand in 2007 and parliamentarian BC Khanduri became the Chief Minister. He vacated the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha seat. The BJP had by then brought TPS Rawat into its fold and pitched him against his mentor Satpal Maharaj. Maharaj lost the elections again as serving Army personnel voted in a large number in favour of former general TPS Rawat.

However, Satpal Maharaj took revenge and defeated TPS Rawat by 17,397 votes in the15th Lok Sabha elections in 2009.

Hence after two wins and five losses Satpal Maharaj was all set to get the Congress ticket to contest the general elections from Pauri for the eighth time but he refused to oblige the party.

Sunder Lal Mandwal, MLA from the Pauri Assembly segment, said it would not be easy for a new candidate to establish a connect with the voters as Pauri Garhwal is one of the biggest constituencies in the state in terms of the number of voters and size. He added that they were trying to convince Satpal Maharaj to reconsider his decision and fight the forthcoming elections from Pauri. 

Eye on LS polls, student unions embrace social media 
ABVP, NSUI, SFI use various mediums to connect with tech-savvy youth
Gaurav Talwar
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 15
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, student outfits are increasingly resorting to the use of social media to woo young voters and to reach out to a tech-savvy population.

It is a fact that the student union organisations are indispensable for their parent political outfits during the run up to the elections, courtesy their mass appeal among the youth.

During the election season, student outfits such as Student Federation of India (SFI), National Student Federation of India (NSUI), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and others are leaving no stone unturned to reach out to the tech-savvy generation to spread their party’s message.

According to Abhishek Bhandari, district head of SFI, “Social media can be an accelerator to get more support for a party’s campaign in the run up to the elections. We have a strategy in place to increase our support base with the increasing use of the internet.”

We compiled a report regarding how much money was spent on education from the annual budget in the last 5 years by the Uttarakhand government and we would share the report on social media to tell people about the state of affairs in the state as far as education is concerned, asserted Bhandari.

The SFI isn’t the only student organisation trying to ride the digital wave ahead of the general election to be held in May 2014. The ABVP too is trying to woo voters in support of Narendra Modi.

“We organised a massive drive through Facebook for voter registration and managed to bring in 600-700 new voters registered with the election commission this time. Our aim is to use social media to target young voters and to tell them why Narendra Modi must become the next Prime Minister of the country. Our workers are constantly posting write ups on Modi, to keep him on the spotlight,” claimed Siddharth Rana, ABVP leader and president of DAV PG College Student Union.

Besides SFI and ABVP, NSUI is not far behind in using various social media platforms to get more support for the Congress in the upcoming general elections.

Interestingly, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is going to talk to with the party workers today at Rajeev Bhavan through Google Hangout and Khidkee.com.

On March 13, Congress started a campaign on Facebook — Lok Sabha Elections 2014: Vote for Congress — to connect with new members and to spread Rahul Gandhi’s message among the tech-savvy youth of the country.

“Our aim is to connect to more than 2 lakh people by May 7, they day when voting begins in Uttarakhand to gather support so that more and more people vote for the Congress,” said Vishal Chand Maurya, state general secretary, IT Cell, Uttarakhand Congress.

Villagers threaten to boycott Lok Sabha elections
Ajay Ramola
Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, March 15
Taking cue from the residents of remote villages in Kumaon region, the villagers from around more than dozen villages near Mussoorie have threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha elections if their demand for road construction is not met soon.

The residents from more than a dozen villages from Chaijula Patti falling in Dhanaulti Assembly segment near Mussoorie held a meeting at Ladur and Mawana village and lambasted the successive state governments on not being able to provide basic amenities such as road connectivity, drinking water supply etc to even after more than 60 years of Independence.

The villagers rued the fact that despite being close to important tourist destinations such as Mussoorie and Kempty, the successive governments had failed to provide them road connectivity despite several reminders over the years forcing them to take drastic measures like boycotting the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Agitated Sate Singh Rawat from Mawana said that due to the absence of any road in their village, the sick and old were major sufferers as they had to be brought to the hospital in Mussoorie with help. He also said that most of the villagers had to carry the basic amenities to survive such as ration, gas cylinders on their back on their way to respective villages, facing immense difficulties.

Jagat Panwar, another villager from the region, said that the neglect shown by the administration and the government had forced them to come to a decision of boycotting the Lok Sabha elections till their demand is met.

Rajendar Dangwal, another villager, lamented the fact that government had been able to make arrangements and construct pipeline for the tourists of Mussoorie but had neglected the villagers around the region completely. Therefore, it had been decided that if their demands are not met, the water supply from two water pumps situated at Jhinsi and Kolti falling under Chaijula Patti of district Tehri to Mussoorie will be shut on June 1 and the public representatives will not be allowed to visit the affected villages during the elections.

AAP announces candidates from Uttarakhand
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 15
Aam Admi Party has announced its candidates for Tehri, Nainital and Haridwar Lok Sabha seats of Uttarakhand.

Former corporate bigwig turned social worker, Doonite Anoop Nautiyal will be contesting the Tehri Garhwal seat, state agitationist Bali Singh Cheema has been given Nainital ticket while former Uttarakhand DGP Kanchan Chowdhary Bhattacharya has bagged the AAP ticket for Haridwar parliamentary seat.

The party had already declared Harish Arya as its candidate for Almora reserved seat some weeks back. However, AAP is still to decide its candidate for Pauri Garhwal Lok sabha seat.

AAP announced its sixth list of 55 candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the Lok Sabha elections 2014 in Delhi today which included these three Lok Sabha seats of Uttarakhand.

Suspended BSP MLAs await Mayawati's decision
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 15
Suspended Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs Surendra Rakesh and Haridas today did not rule out rapprochement asserting that they were still committed Bahujan Samaj Party workers and did't want to leave it.

The suspended MLAs told mediapersons today that they were committed BSP workers and would wait for the decision from party supremo Mayawati before taking future course of action. Criticising state BSP president Meghraj Jarawarey, Surendra Rakesh asserted that he would never allow failed political leaders from UP like Jarawarey to dictate terms to him. He said Jarawarey alongwith other state BSP leader Surajmal were jealous of the works done by him as social welfare minister in the state Congress government. The BSP is an alliance partner with state Congress government.

MLA Haridas, who is also the BSP legislature party leader in the Uttarakhand Assembly pointed out that Mayawati has been mislead by people like Jarawarey. We will try to convince party supremo Mayawati on our suspension from the party. I am a committed BSP worker for the past 30 years and people like Jarwarey are misleading Mayawati, Haridas pointed out.

The duo also ruled out joining the Congress in case they were expelled from the party. In case we are expelled, we will first go to the people of our constituencies before taking any decision, they said.

Surendra Rakesh, Social Welfare Minister, appreciated the works done by Surendra Rakesh for the betterment of Dalits in the state. He said it was his efforts that the grant given under Gaura Kanya Dhan Yojana for marriage of Dalit girls was increased. It was also for the first time that the Social Welfare Department wore the expenses on the coaching for the Civil Services Examination of SC, ST students in private coaching institutions. 

DM bans sale of liquor on Holi
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 15
District Magistrate BVRC Purushottam has ordered the closure of all liquor outlets in the district on Holi (March 17).

He has also issued directions that the sale of liquor and spirit through canteens and bars will not be allowed. The District Magistrate has told all Sub-Divisional Magistrates to keep a strict vigil on Holi and take strong action against those found disobeying the orders.

Eco-friendly Holi played

Dehradun, March 15
With a message to protect environment, the workers of Pulse Production played eco-friendly Holi at the Radha Kishan Temple at Krishan Nagar Chowk today.

Director Deep Vohra, said government must contribute the money being spent on various Holi functions for the help of last year’s Kedarnath tragedy victims. — TNS

350 bottles of liquor seized, 5 arrested
Tribune News Service

The accused charged with smuggling illegal liquor in police custody. (below) Boxes of illegal liquor seized by the police at Dalanwala in Dehradun on Saturday. Tribune photographs

Dehradun, March 15
As part of its crackdown against illicit liquor smuggling ahead of Holi, Nehru Colony Police Station seized 360 bottles of English brand liquor from Ashok Vihar here yesterday.

Acting on a tip off, the Nehru Colony police arrested five persons while they were unloading the smuggled liquor, which were kept in thirty cartons, in front of a house in Ashok Vihar. The arrested persons namely, Prakash, Pramod, Sunil, Gaurav and Sanju have been booked under the required sections of the Indian Penal Code.

During interrogation, the arrested persons told the police that they brought the liquor from Chandigarh for selling it in Dehradun during Holi.

Haldwani residents demand fresh
CBI probe into rape, murder case
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 15
People of Haldwani have demanded a fresh probe into the sensational Preeti Sharma rape and murder case that triggered widespread public outrage in 2008.

In a memorandum sent to the Chief Minister through the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), the residents of Motinagar in Haldwani have questioned the CBI inquiry conducted after the incident.

They have accused the local administration and the police of weakening the case in the initial days of the gruesome incident because of which the CBI could not do much. They have demanded a fresh CBI probe into the case and interrogation of all suspects by the central premier investigating agency again.

Notably, the police had arrested a person in the case in 2008 but he was granted bail by court. On the other hand, the local people allege that the police ignored the possibility that there could be more than one person involved in the crime.

Besides, the local people are also demanding that the CBI should probe the allegation of political influence on the police.

It is to be noted that relatives of the victim had named the persons suspected to be involved in the crime in court. They had also pointed towards political pressure being mounted on the police to go slow in its investigation in the case.

On November 19, 2008, Preeti was physically assaulted and later 
murdered. The incident had led to widespread protests in Haldwani, forcing the government to order a CBI probe.

Kumaon Vani, Pantnagar Janvani win radio awards

Dehradun, March 15
Kumaon Vani run by the Energy and Resource Institute, Uttarakhand, and Pantnagar Janvani, run by G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Uttarakhand, have bagged national community radio awards 2014.

While Kumaon Vani won in thematic awards category for its programme, ''Bazar Laye Bochhar,'' Pantnagar Janvani, run by GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Uttarakhand, won community engagement award for its programme ''Gaon ki Baat.'' Bimal Julka, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, presented the 3rd national community radio awards in Delhi today.

The national community radio awards are instituted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in 2012 to promote better programming on community radio stations. The thematic award is given to the community radio stations which create programmes that are relevant to the community, addressing any issues pertaining to the need or interest of the community. The community engagement award is given to the community radio stations which engage community in planning, content, production and broadcast of programme. — TNS

IIP organises blood donation camp
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 15
Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun organised a blood donation camp in collaboration with the IMA blood bank here yesterday.

The camp was inaugurated by Alka Garg, a philanthropist.

Speaking on the occasion, Alka Garg stressed on the importance of blood. She said blood had no substitute and could not be manufactured synthetically.

“Blood is a gift of God. Its donation is unparalleled and is required regularly round the clock to save human life,” she added.

Dr Lalita Bakaya said there is a need to motivate people to come forward for voluntary blood donation.

The camp was participated by IIP staff, their families and trainees. More than 100 units of blood were collected in the camp.

RPI to field Nishat Ameen from Haridwar
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, March 15
Republican Party of India (RPI) has decided to field Nishat Ameen from the Haridwar Lok Sabha constituency seat in the forthcoming general elections. State president Anil Rathore, announced the party’s decision today. Nishant Ameen is the state general secretary of RPI and hails from Roorkee.

According to state president, the party was going to fight from all five seats in the state and a panel of candidates on other four seats had been formed and the national party president, Ramdas Athavale, would choose the suitable candidates who would contest from the remaining four seats.

The party’s state spokesperson, Naresh Kumar, said party workers were going to every village in the state to mobilise support for the party keeping in view the upcoming general elections.

Nanhi Duniya celebrates Holi

Dehradun, March 15
Nanhi Duniya organised Holi utsav to celebrate the festival of colours at its headquarters in Pritam road here today.

The children made beautiful and colourful rangolis and the school premises was beautified and decorated with colourful ‘matkis’ and craftwork.

The programme began with a social painting comprising of fusion of colours and music. Volunteers made a unique experiment with colours.

Amidst the beating of the drums and tunes of the musical instruments, a colourful abstract painting was made which was liked by all.

The main attraction of the event was the dance drama ‘Natkhat Kanha’ presented by tiny tots. Young artists of Rangshala presented traditional Holi dance ‘biraj mein holi aayi rey’. — TNS