P R A D E S H
Friday, October 8, 1999
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H I M A C H A L P R A D E S H |
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Friday, October 8, 1999 |
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Virbhadra blamed for Cong
defeat |
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Alarm bells ring in
Congress camp New MP for boosting power
generation Frequent polls bad for nation:
Shanta VC inaugurates info tech course |
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Virbhadra blamed for Cong defeat SHIMLA, Oct 7 — Mr Sukh Ram, president of the Himachal Vikas Congress, today said that results of the Lok Sabha poll in the state had exploded the myth that Mr Virbhadra Singh, the Congress Legislative Party, leader was a mass leader. Addressing a press conference here today he said that feudal style of Virbhadra Singh's functioning as the Chief Minister had alienated people from the Congress and it had suffered a defeat worse than the 1977 when the Janata wave swept the polls. This time the party not only lost all four seats with huge margins but could secure lead only in four Assembly segments. It clearly indicated that influence of Virbhadra Singh, the so called leader of the state, had been confined to the Rampur and Rohru Assembly segments. The HVC leader blamed Mr Virbhadra Singh for party's rout. He virtually established one-man rule which cost the party dearly in terms of mass support. The fact that the three sitting Congress legislators, who contested the poll, could not get lead in their own Assembly segments, exposed the bankruptcy of the leadership in the party. There was no moral justification for these legislators to remain in the House. He said if I were in Virbhadra Singh's position I would have resigned from the Vidhan Sabha and quit politics for ever. Mr Sukh Ram said that apart from the Vajpayee factor, the performance of the Dhumal government, which carried out development in all areas without discrimination, helped the combine to sweep the election. The BJP and the HVC workers worked in unison to wrest the Shimla seat, which the Congress had lost only once during 1977. He said that the victory in Shimla seat was most satisfying as he had been able to humble Mr Virbhadra Singh in his own baston. With this he had also achieved his objective of rooting out "rajwarashahi" from the state. Mr Narinder Bragta, Himachal Horticulture Minister, said that the victory in the Shimla seat had dispelled the impression that the BJP was anti-apple growers. The fact that the BJP-HVC combine secured lead from the Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly segments, represented by former Chief Minister, Mr Ram Lal for the first time in the 50 years electoral history state clearly reflected how successful the party had been in winning the confidence of people, particularly the apple growers. He said increase in support price of apple, record procurement of apples last year, maintenance of roads in the apple belt, availability of packing cases and other measures taken by the Dhumal government to help the growers paid rich dividends to the party in terms of electoral support. Mr Raj Pal Chauhan,
member of Shimla, Zila Parishad, said the development
works undertaken by the coalition government over the
past 16 months made it clear to the electorate of Shimla
region that Congress had only been doing paying lip
service to them. |
Thakur Kaul Singh resigns as
MLA MANDI, Oct 7 — Former Himachal Vidhan Sabha Speakar, who was Congress candidate from Mandi Parliamentary constituency, Thakur Kaul Singh, who was defeated by the BJP candidate, Mr Maheshwar Singh, by 131,025 votes today sent in his resignation from the Vidhan Sabha membership to the CLP leader Mr Virbhadra Singh. Talking to reporters he said, "I am resigning on moral grounds because in my own Assembly segment Darang wherefrom I won by over 13000 votes the BJP candidate got a lead of 218 votes". He admitted that it was perhaps the Vajpayee wave which broke into even the Shimla constituency, once considered the stronghold of the Congress party. "I accept this loss at the hustings with all humility and grace as the verdict of the people is sacred for me". He expressed strong apprehension on the future of the multi-party alliance of the BJP and wondered if it would be able to provide a stable government for the country, if the past experience was any indication. He expressed confidence
in the policies and programmes of the Congress party,
which he claimed could deliver goods irrespective of the
present set-backs. It was a matter of time and the
Congress would soon recover the lost ground, he added. |
Alarm bells ring in Congress
camp SHIMLA, Oct 7 — Alarm bells have started ringing in the Congress camp with the party's rout in Himachal Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections. This is being described as the "worst-ever defeat" of the Congress party, which not only lost all four Lok Sabha seats, but could also not retain a dominating position in the assembly segments, except four. On the other hand, the ruling BJP-HVC combine was in an upbeat mood after having swept the elections in the state. The HVC leader, Mr Sukh Ram, was a happy man after his party bagged the Shimla (reserved) seat, which was considered the domain of his arch political rival, Mr Virbhadra Singh. The Congress leaders, who are yet to come out of the shock of the humiliating defeat, have started accusing each other for the poll debacle and are apparently upset over the verdict. The Congress defeat in the Shimla (reserved) seat has come as a surprise as the constituency has traditionally been a party stronghold and it has lost here only once during the Janata Party wave in 1977. Even the sudden replacement of the six-time winner of the seat, Mr K.D. Sultanpuri, with Mr Gangu Ram Musafir in the middle of electioneering did not help the Congress. This step was being considered as one of the reasons for the defeat of the party here. Sukh Ram's strategy It is being said that Mr Sukh Ram played his cards in a calculated manner by defeating Mrs Pratibha Kumari, wife of Mr Virbhadra Singh, in the Mandi constituency in the previous election and this time humiliated him in Shimla constituency by bagging the seat for his HVC nominee. The Congress stalwarts including Mr Ram Lal, Mr J.B.L. Khachi, Mrs Vidya Stokes and Mr Yogendera Chandra, who are setting legislators — could not secure any lead for their party candidate in their respective assembly segments. It is being felt by the Congress leaders that the party rank and file became complacent following a change of the candidate for the Shimla constituency and they started thinking that the seat was in their pocket. They hardly made any contribution to the campaign. Most of the senior leaders preferred to campaign in Kangra and other constituencies rather than sticking here. It is being alleged by a section of the Congress that certain party leaders did not campaign seriously particularly in the Shimla constituency, as they were pursuing a gameplan to let Mr Sukh Ram belittle Mr Virbhadra Singh in his home turf. Another senior party leader said that the rout of the Congress in Shimla and Sirmour districts in paticular indicated the desire for development which the people in these areas had. Certain areas of these districts were discriminated against during the regime of Mr Virbhadra Singh. The landslide victory of the BJP-HVC combine in the state has strengthened the coalition, which came to power on a razor-thin majority 18 months ago. Vajpayee wave The Vajpayee wave has proved to be more devastating than even the Janata Party wave of 1977, when the Congress lost all seats for the first time. Apart from the personality clash between Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the Kargil issue and the performance of the Dhumal government enabled the combine to make a clean sweep of the four seats. The Congress criticism of the Vajpayee government on the Kargil issue backfired in Himachal Pradesh, from where no less than 65 brave jawans made the supreme sacrifice. Pro-incumbency However, one factor which made the sweep unprecedented was the abject lack of anti-incumbency factor against the Dhumal government. In fact, the results only indicate presence of a pro-incumbency factor. Mr Dhumal's ability to secure liberal funds from the Centre and get a large number of big projects like four national highways, Parbati and Chamera-II hydro-electric projects and rail projects convinced the people that the interests of the state were safe under BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state. The success of Mr Dhumal in demolishing the Congress bastion in the apple belt has been the most remarkable. His decision to increase the support price for apple, large-scale procurement of fruit and the special attention given to maintain roads in the fruit belt has yielded the desired result. Rout in apple belt The rout in the apple belt is worrying the Congress leadership, which had always considered these areas their stronghold. One of the groups accused Mr Sat Mahajan, PCC President, of having demoralised the party rank and file by making discriminatory changes in the organisational set-up. It is being alleged that the PWD Minister, Mr Mohinder Singh, misused his official position to influence the voters in the Shimla parliamentary constituency from where his party's nominee, Mr Shandil, was contesting the election. Mr Mohinder Singh belongs to the HVC. A Youth Congress leader
alleged that a couple of senior leaders of the Congress
had lost roots in their respective areas as they behaving
like the ruling BJP men by maintaining close relations
with the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal. |
Shanta betters performance DHARAMSALA, Oct 7 — The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, received a severe drubbing at the hands of the former Chief Minister and BJP candidate, Mr Shanta Kumar, as he failed to get a lead even in one of the 17 Assembly segments falling under the Kangra constituency. Having won the 1998 elections by a margin of 59,235 votes, Mr Shanta Kumar repeated the feat and even increased his victory margin to 1,007,42 votes. This was the third time that the Congress chief, Mr Mahajan and the BJP stalwart, Mr Shanta Kumar, were pitted against each other. As compared to the 1998 elections, the BJP's vote percentage has gone up by 6.2 per cent, whereas the Congress has come down by 2.6 per cent. During the last three elections, the BJP's vote percentage has increased from 42.58 per cent in 1996 to 58.35 per cent this time. The Congress party's vote percentage, however, has been decreasing as it went down from 49.64 per cent in 1996 to 42.94 in 1998 and to 40.30 this time. The fact that the BJP and the Congress, remain the two major political parties in the state, remains undisputed as for the Kangra seat the three other candidates in fray, not only lost their security deposits, but could secure only 0.62 per cent of the total votes polled. During the 1998 elections, the four candidates apart from the Congress and the BJP had polled 3.99 per cent of votes. So the claims of the Samajwadi Party, JD and the BSP regarding their pockets of influence in Himachal have been refuted. The people have totally rejected the other candidates as the SP candidate, Mr Hardyal Chaudhary got 1991 votes, while the state President of the Janata Dal (S), Capt Pratap Chaudhary, got 997 votes. Another independent candidate Lt Col Shakti Chand Chaudhary polled 472 votes. Mr Sat Mahajan failed to get a lead even in his home constituency of Nurpur, where the BJP was up by 945 votes. During the 1998 elections the Congress had been able to secure a lead from four Assembly segments of Nurpur (336), Guler (3382), Ganggath (332) and Chamba (3528). As a result of a relatively low voter turnout this time the BJP's votes share come down to 3.25 from 3.34 lakh during the 1998 elections. On the other hand the number of votes polled by the Congress this time is almost 50,000 less than its tally during the last Lok Sabha poll. The outcome of the Lok
Sabha elections in the state may pose a threat to the
state Presidentship of Mr Sat Mahajan, the people of
Kangra have once again reposed faith in the leadership of
Mr Shanta Kumar. |
New MP for boosting power
generation MANDI, Oct 7 — Mr Maheshwar Singh, newly elected member of Parliment from Mandi constituency, said here today that he would try to impress upon the state and central government for the allocation of more funds for the promotion of tourism and harnessing the vast hydel power potential in the state. Appreciating the measures taken by the BJP government in its short span of 15 months in the state whereby the process of development was speaded up and work on several power projects launched be regretted that the Congress government which ruled for over four decades had not been able to deliver goods. He said Himachal was full of beautiful hill resorts, but no efforts had been made to link with metalled road many virgin resorts, high-altitude lakes like Prashar and many lush green valleys which could offer a better substitute for Kashmir. He said while the country was reeling under power shortage over 20000 MW of Himachal's hydel power was yet to be harnesed. He said Mr Vajpayee was aware of these facts and he had full confidence that Himachal unlike the past would not be starved of funds for launching productive venture in the years to come. He said the Prime Minister was aware of the dire necessity to construct a tunnel under the Rohtang Pass as it was of great strategic importance for keeping open the Manali-Leh highway to meet eventualities of the Kargil type. Besides the defence needs the proposed tunnel would give boost tourism. He said he would take up
the matter of constructing a lined channel by BBMB
authorities to eject silt from the BSL open hydel channel
and the reservoir as the silting had devastated the
fertile Balh valley and converted it into a desert. |
Frequent polls bad for nation:
Shanta DHARAMSALA, Oct 7 — The newly elected MP from Kangra, Mr Shanta Kumar, today said that despite the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), getting the mandate, the holding of frequent elections has resulted in the defeat of the country and its democracy. Addressing a press conference here today, he said in the true sense these elections have proved beyond doubt that atleast the democratic set up of the country and its people have lost."The holding of three elections during the past four years has proved that it is not in the interest of the country that huge amounts should be spent on elections as it shatters the economy," he observed. He added that now it was the collective responsibility of all political parties to ensure that this Lok Sabha completes its tenure of five years, or else "we will be compelled to adopt the Presidential form of government." Mr Shanta Kumar, said he felt that the parliamentary form of government was not suitable for the Indian set up and it was already too late for us to switch over to the Presidential form of government. "We should adopt the Presidential form of government at the earliest he stated. He felt that in the Presidential form of government there would be stability, which will keep a check on corruption and help in solving the problems of the people during the full five-year tenure. Commenting on the impressive victory registered by him, Mr Shanta Kumar said that it was the vote given by the people in the name of the able leadership and credibility of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. "Not only have the people expressed their faith in the leadership of Mr Vajpayee, but have also shown anger against the Congress, which they felt was responsible for the pulling down of the BJP government," he stated. Mr Shanta Kumar said
there was no anti-establishment feeling in Himachal, as a
result of which the BJP-HVC alliance bagged all four
seats in Himachal. The performance of the BJP government
in Himachal and the united campaign launched by the Chief
Minister, ministers and other party workers, brought
success to the party. Mr Shanta Kumar, also addressed a
public meeting in the town. |
VC inaugurates info tech
course SOLAN, Oct 7 — The Vice-Chancellor of Parmar University, Prof R.P. Awasthi, inaugurated yesterday a 10-day advanced training course on Micro ISIS and WINISIS — a computer software specially created by UNESCO for information professionals, librarians and scientists, at the university campus in Nauni. The course has been sponsored by the National Information System for Science and Technology (NISSAT) in collaboration with the Institute of Information Studies, Bangalore. Prof Awasthi called upon library professionals to keep themselves abreast of rapid advancements made in the field of Information Technology adding that the academic standards of any institution had come to be gauged by the quality of information services provided by its library. In this connection, he noted with regret that the country's Agriculture Research Information System (ARIS), had not become as well established as the NISSAT which had made a significant contribution to the management of scientific information in the country. Dr A.S. Chandel, Chief Librarian of the university, said the impact of IT had been maximum on the librarians internationally for whom it had come as a boon. Prof A. Neelameghan of the Institute of Information Studies, Bangalore, said the course contents were aimed at enabling trainees to develop multi-media and multi-lingual databases which could help disseminate existing and new technologies available with different institutions through IT facilities like the Internet. Mr B.N. Sarkar, Senior Scientist, NISSAT, gave details of the various activities of his organisation. Twentytwo persons from
12 states and one from Sri Lanka are attending the
course. |
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