Dhumal launches poll campaign
HAMIRPUR, May 20 — Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal blasted the Congress party for contesting election on the stability plank. He said that the Congress was responsible for destabilising the nation and it had no right to seek votes from Indian people on stability issue.

Storm hits life in Shimla Mandi
SHIMLA, May 20 — Shimla and its surrounding areas were lashed by a severe followed by heavy rain this afternoon.

Shanta Kumar hits out at Cong
CHAMBA, May 20 — Mr Shanta Kumar, a former Chief Minister, today criticised the Congress for backtracking of its Pachmarhi resolution and toppling the BJP-led coalition government at the Centre.

Federation threat to start stir
SHIMLA, May 20 — The Gopal Das Verma group of the Non-Gazetted Services Federation has threatened to start an agitation from August 1, if the government fails to accept its demands.

• Stir threat by IPH union

Villager kills leopard cub
HAMIRPUR, May 20 — A female leopard cub was shot dead at Samlehra village today. The cub was reportedly blocking the way of children going to school.

Dhumal launches poll campaign
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, May 20 — Himachal Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal blasted the Congress party for contesting election on the stability plank. He said that the Congress was responsible for destabilising the nation and it had no right to seek votes from Indian people on stability issue.

The Chief Minister stated this while launching party's election campaign for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in the district. Mr Ishwar Dass Dhiman, the HP Education Minister and other prominent BJP leaders of the district accompanied him. He addressed public meetings at Nagrota Gazian, Badhani and Kala Amb.

Earlier, he inaugurated a ayurvedic dispensary at Nagrota Gazian and laid stone of the building of Agriculture implements sale centre.

Prof Dhumal said that the party which was responsible for the ouster of seven Prime Ministers thus destabilising the nation would not be allowed to come to power. The Congress had neither any moral or legal right to come to power, he told the audience at Gagret and Bhanjal villages of the Una district. People from various parts of the district were present at both functions.

The Chief Minister hit out at Congress leaders for opposing the State Government only for the sake of opposition. He said, there was a strong need for a strong opposition in a democratic set up but opposition should not be for the sake of the opposition. He said that he wanted criticism of Government policies and programmes but these should be based on facts and not on hearsay.

The Opposition was welcome to criticise the Government if they thought that policies of the Government were wrong. But when it was doing its best, there was no point in raising unwanted and irrelevant issues, the Chief Minister added.

The Chief Minister claimed that the Government had done a lot to provide drinking water through tankers in the drought-hit areas of the state. The district administration had been asked to press into service more tankers if need be.

Mr Dhumal said that the issue of preventing foreign nationals from holding offices of President, Vice-President and Prime Minister of India would figure mainly in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. The issue was vital for security and integrity of India, Mr Dhumal told reporters.

The Chief Minister who reached here on a two-day official visit to the district said that Congress party was facing one of the biggest crisis at present. The issue raised by its three top leaders proved that what the BJP and its allies had said earlier was true and for the benefit of India and the Indians. He said that Mrs Sonia Gandhi should not be allowed to handle the affairs of the nation and for this purpose the BJP would go to masses during elections.

Prof Dhumal said that the party would contest and win all four Lok Sabha seats in the state. The party would go to people with achievements during past 13 months at Centre and in the state of Himachal. He claimed that performance of the BJP Government in the state was much better than the performance of all the Congress governments.

While we provided subsidy to apple growing areas, the same treatment was also given to the lover hill areas of the state where citrus fruits and mangoes were found in abundance. This proved that the government was nursing all areas of the state on equal basis, Mr Dhumal added.

He denied discrimination between various areas of the state.

He gave a call to people to rally behind the BJP for their all-round development and to safeguard their interests. He said that if people voted for the Congress party, the nation would be doomed.

He said that Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was the only man acceptable to the people of India and this had been proved various surveys by media recently.

Mr Ishwar Dass Dhiman, the Himachal Education Minister claimed that there was marked improvement in educational activities in the state during past one-year of BJP rule. He challenged Congress men for a debate on the issue of educational services rendered by the BJP Government and those provided by the Congress party since independence.

Storm hits life in Shimla Mandi

SHIMLA, May 20 (PTI) — Shimla and its surrounding areas were lashed by a severe followed by heavy rain this afternoon.

The storm disrupted normal life and forced people to rush indoors. The storm winds accompanied by rains disrupted power supply and telecommunication. Uprooted trees blew off boards and hoardings and roofs of kuccha houses at some places. It also caused sharp fall in the day temperature but it registered a modest rise after the storm subsided.

The storm was considered harmful for apple and stone fruit crops but was boon for other crops.

MANDI (FOC): The mandi region was lashed by high velocity squall on Thursday uprooting trees and damaging power and telephone lines. Power supply in town was disrupted for many hours. Some roof tops were also blown away. No loss of life was reported.

The hurricane was followed by heavy rain bringing down the temperature considerably.

The windstorm badly damaged plum and mango crops in the region.

Air of festivity in Shimla
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 20 — It is an air of festivity here these days with the stage being set for a series of cultural events beginning with a performance by a pop group, "Silk Route", on Saturday.

While the Ridge is being readied for the annual Shimla Summer Festival, a large pandal is being set up in Ladies Park for a consumer fair being organised by the CII on Saturday.

The annual five-day summer festival, which begins on May 27 will have the famous Pakistani singer, Hassan, as the star attraction. He will perform on the last day of the festival on May 31.

Besides, Amit Kumar and Gurdas Mann will also perform on May 27 and May 28, respectively.

According to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ram Subhag Singh, bhajan sandhaya and dances of India will be the highlights of the festival.

A two-day festival of award winning films produced by the Films Division of India will begin on May 22 in Ritz Cinema. These include "The Saviour", "Smoke" and "The Lost Horizon"

Shanta Kumar hits out at Cong
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, May 20 — Mr Shanta Kumar, a former Chief Minister, today criticised the Congress for backtracking of its Pachmarhi resolution and toppling the BJP-led coalition government at the Centre.

Addressing a press conference here Mr Shanta Kumar stated that the Congress had passed a resolution at Pachmarhi that it would play a constructive role in coordination with regional parties during the term of the BJP-led government, but it deceived people and the government. He alleged that the Congress was power hungry.

Mr Shanta Kumar said the mandate was in favour of the BJP as the single largest party in the country after the previous elections, but the Congress forced the mid-term poll on the country.

Mr Shanta Kumar said the BJP's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was a strong combine which no other party could form.

Federation threat to start stir
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 20 — The Gopal Das Verma group of the Non-Gazetted Services Federation has threatened to start an agitation from August 1, if the government fails to accept its demands.

The federation which met here today constituted a committee to finalise the action programme and coordinate with employee bodies. The committee is headed by Mr Gopal Das Verma and has Mr Ramesh Kumar Sharma as the general secretary.

Mr Verma said the Himachal Employee's Confederation and the State Power Board Employees Union would be involved in the agitation.

A statewide campaign would be launched from June 1 to mobilise support for the stir.

The main demands of the federation included house rent, bonus, medical allowance and capital allowance on the Punjab pattern. It also demanded an increase in compensatory allowance, winter allowance and tribal area allowance.

The federation charged the Ganga Singh group with harming the interests of employees by accepting a meagre increase in compensatory allowance.

Stir threat by IPH union
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, May 20 — The Himachal IPH Non-Gazetted Employees Union has threatened to cease all water supply schemes to Dharamsala and launch an agitation in case the police fails to take action against those responsible for the assault on a junior engineer (JE) in the Gamru area yesterday.

According to the JE, Mr P.C. Sharma, he was beaten up by residents of Upper Ram Nagar while he had gone to a storage tank at Gamru. He said this happened when he summoned the field staff to the main storage tank to check the distribution of water in the areas. He said that he was first abused and threatened and later beaten up.

The union demanded that action should be taken against the guilty.

The SSP, Mr K.C. Sadyal, said a case under Section 353 and 332 of the IPC had been registered against the woman and her son who had attacked the JE.

Villager kills leopard cub
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, May 20 — A female leopard cub was shot dead at Samlehra village today. The cub was reportedly blocking the way of children going to school. A few children raised the alarm and villagers rushed to the site with lethal weapons, but the cub hid herself in the bushes, according to an official spokesman.

On hearing the children scream, a retired teacher, Mr Prem Singh Chandel brought a gun from his house and fired at the leopard, killing her on the spot.

The body has been brought here for a postmortem examination by the Forest Department authorities.