H A R Y A N A

Will Cong infighting head for decisive battle?
Chandigarh, April 18
Will the current bout of infighting in the Haryana Congress head for a decisive battle or is it another storm in a tea-cup? Both the anti-Hooda and pro-Hooda groups are busy these days in sending deputations to the party high command.

Kataria to meet Chautala
Ambala, April 18
The Haryana BJP President, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, has said he will meet the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, regarding the Loharu incident. Talking to mediapersons here today, he said wrong cases had been registered against BJP activists in the Loharu incident. 

Poor lifting of wheat creates problems 
Fatehabad, April 18
Due to poor lifting of the procured wheat bags from the local grain market by the government procurement agencies, traders and farmers here are facing a lot of problems as heaps and bags of wheat have been lying on almost all available space in the market and roads adjoining it.

Students of the Government Polytechnic for Women, Ambala City, present a show during the annual prize distribution function.  —Photo Neeraj Chopra

Will Cong infighting head for decisive battle?
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 18
Will the current bout of infighting in the Haryana Congress head for a decisive battle or is it another storm in a tea-cup? Both the anti-Hooda and pro-Hooda groups are busy these days in sending deputations to the party high command.

While the detractors of the Haryana Congress president, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, want a change in the leadership, his supporters want the status quo to be maintained.

Mr Hooda’s detractors became active after reports came from Delhi that the party high command (read Mrs Sonia Gandhi) wanted to make drastic changes in the party set-up in those states where the Congress had faired poorly in the last Assembly elections. In view of the poor performance of the Congress in the Yamunanagar Assembly byelection, in which the ruling INLD wrested the seat from the Congress, Mr Hooda’s detractors thought that now they had a chance to hit back at him.

Informed sources say Mr Hooda’s detractors met senior party leaders in Delhi in recent days to demand his removal.

Several formulas were given to the party high command. While Jat leaders in the Congress pleaded that Mr Hooda should be replaced by another Jat, non-Jat detractors of Mr Hooda wanted that one of them should replace him. They said in such a situation Mr Hooda could be made the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) while Mr Bhajan Lal, who now heads the CLP, should be made a permanent member of the Congress Working Committee. This formula, they said, would satisfy all factions.

Among the Jats, the names of Mr Birender Singh and Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, both former presidents of the Haryana Congress, were promoted for the post of party chief. Among the non-Jats, Ms Selja, secretary of the AICC, and Mr O.P. Jindal, MLA from Hisar, were projected as the likely replacement of Mr Hooda.

The Hooda camp reacted by sending at least six MLAs to Mrs Gandhi yesterday. These MLAs, who included Mr Jai Prakash Barwala, Mr Dharamvir, Mr Lachhman Dass Arora, Mr Shadi Lal Batra, Dr Raghbir Singh Kadian and Mr Jatinder Malik, are believed to have brought to the notice of the party President certain press statements issued by Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Jindal against Mr Hooda.

Mrs Gandhi, who advised the MLAs to work unitedly in the interest of the party, reportedly gave no hint of any impending change in the Haryana Congress.

Meanwhile, Mr Hooda is scheduled to lead Haryana Congressmen in staging a dharna at Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat on April 21 to demand the resignation of Mr Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of the riot-torn state. 

Kataria to meet Chautala
Tribune News Service

Ambala, April 18
The Haryana BJP President, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, has said he will meet the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, regarding the Loharu incident.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said wrong cases had been registered against BJP activists in the Loharu incident. “The cases have been registered at the behest of the local MLA and we are going to talk to Mr Chautala about it,” he said. He added that the incidents were related to an attempt to grab property.

Regarding Gujarat riots, Mr Kataria showed photographs of the charred remains of victims of the Godhra incident and he circulated a note ‘Godhra carnage’: A shocking event’. The note attempts to bring out the ‘Congress connection’ in the Godhra incident. Mr Kataria, however, skirted round a query on whether the photographs will be circulated among the rank and file of the BJP in the state.

Poor lifting of wheat creates problems 
Our Correspondent

Fatehabad, April 18
Due to poor lifting of the procured wheat bags from the local grain market by the government procurement agencies, traders and farmers here are facing a lot of problems as heaps and bags of wheat have been lying on almost all available space in the market and roads adjoining it.

According to sources, over 45,000 metric tons of wheat has so far been procured from the local grain market. But lifting of the purchased wheat is very poor. The sources said so far not more than 10,000 metric tons of wheat had been lifted of the purchased wheat.

This has created a lot of problems for the traders, farmers and local residents. In the absence of speedy lifting of the wheat crop, the traders have been forced to ask the farmers to unload their wheat on the roads surrounding the grain market, the roads and pavements of model town in front of the Papiha Tourist Complex and some other localities of the town. Even the residential areas have not been spared.

This has caused hardship to the people who have their establishments in the commercial sector of model town and those living on the local Bhattu road or the road leading to the State Bank of India. The vehicular traffic on the Bhattu road and the SBI road has been badly disrupted for the past few days.

A bumper crop and its speedy arrival is said to be the main reason behind the current problem. The sources say the use of combine harvester for harvesting wheat crop this year has been much more than in the past years. Though methods of speedy harvesting of crop have been evolved over the years, not much improvement has been witnessed in the process of procurement and lifting which continues to be on the old pattern.

Traders of the local grain market have faxed a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner drawing his attention to the negligent attitude of the authorities in this regard. The traders have alleged that there is negligence on the part of the procurement agencies and contractors in lifting of the purchased wheat. They have urged the Deputy Commissioner to ensure speedy lifting of wheat so that people did not have to face problems.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr O.P. Indora, visited the grain market today and reviewed the procurement of wheat. He talked to the traders and farmers and listened to their problems. He asked the procurement agencies to ensure timely lifting of the crop so that the process went on smoothly. Mr Indora asked the farmers to bring their crop after proper cleaning so that they did not have to face problems in the market. He assured them that as per the policy of the state government, each and every grain of wheat would be purchased by the agencies.