 |
|
Sunday,
December 22,
2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
HP Cong leaders submit draft manifesto Bid for Dhumal-Shanta patch-up Modi’s presence will harm BJP in HP: Cong
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Boycott mars bus stand inauguration Survey on heart diseases Inspiring women to be on their own HP increases
stipend of docs Students court arrest
|
||
|
HP Cong leaders submit draft manifesto New Delhi, December 21 The manifesto committee, headed by senior leader Sat Mahajan, met here today and submitted the draft proposals to General Secretary Mohsina Kidwai. Members of the manifesto committeee also met Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Salman Khurshid for their advice on the proposals. The manifesto will be finalised after it is examined by the high command. While the Congress leadership is striking a balance between the two camps in the state Congress, many state leaders have told the high comamnd to end ambiguity about who would lead the poll campaign. Citing example of Punjab where Capt Amarinder Singh led the campaign even though he was not projected as chief ministerial candidate, the Congress leaders said the party’s campaign had to be sharp and aggressive to counter a renewed BJP which is again projecting Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal as its chief ministerial candidate. Supporters of Mr Singh have told the high-command that giving him a free hand would boost the morale of party workers and the former Chief Minister was the party’s best bet to defeat the BJP. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has worked in Himachal Pradesh, will campaign for the BJP in the state and the Congress is looking for an effective alternative to counter his "hard Hindutva" campaigning.
|
|
Bid for Dhumal-Shanta patch-up Shimla, December 21 The initiative has come from none other than the Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee, who had a one-to-one meeting with Mr Shanta Kumar two days ago. Subsequently, Mr L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minister, and Mr Venkaih Naidu, party President, also had detailed discussions with Mr Shanta Kumar to bring about unity in the party which was crucial for winning the assembly elections in the state. With the “trinity” of the BJP leadership, which has the last word in party matters, stepping in direct to bridge the factional divide, the chances of rapprochement between the two leaders have improved. According to party sources, Mr Shanta Kumar gave vent to his feelings and listed his grievances against the Dhumal government. Having heard the story of Mr Shanta Kumar, the party high command is likely to discuss the matter with Mr Dhumal. It is keen an a one-to-one meeting between Mr Shanta Kumar and Mr Dhumal to thrash out issues. The Sangh Parivar has also been playing an active role in removing the differences between the two leaders. Mr Vishwanath and Mr Ramesh Prakash, two senior Delhi-based RSS leaders, met Mr Shanta Kumar and offered to mediate to remove the irritants responsible for the factional divide. The party high command and the Sangh Parivar are worried over the split-like situation in the party and are making every effort to ensure that the “unsavoury” Jwalamukhi episode of 1997 is not repeated before the assembly elections. Differences between Mr Dhumal and Mr Shanta Kumar persisted even after the formation of the BJP-led government in the state but never surfaced. However, certain moves like the creation of new districts and the delimitation of assembly constituencies brought their rift into the open with Mr Shanta Kumar openly terming the moves as a conspiracy of Mr Dhumal to decimate him politically. The proposal on new districts had to be shelved due to sharp differences in the party and the delimitation exercise was also deferred. However, the damage to the party has been done. Interestingly, the differences persist even though Mr Shanta Kumar has made it clear that he would not return to state politics. Political observers are sceptical about the success of the unity efforts as they find the differences between two leaders irreconcilable. The party high command initiative may have come a bit too late, they feel. |
|
Modi’s presence will harm BJP in HP: Cong Shimla, December 21 Mr Kuldeep Rathore, Congress spokesperson, said today that Mr Modi was the chief architect of the factional divide in the BJP and the party high command was forced to remove him as in charge of the state to save the Dhumal government in the wake of revolt by Shanta loyalists. He said as Himachal Pradesh was not a communally sensitive state, his presence in the election scene would not help the party much. On the contrary it would only increase the bitterness between the rival camps in the party. Infighting in the BJP was already at its peak and not only the top leaders were engaged in a bitter war of words but even their wives and ex-officers on special duty had joined the slanging match. This happened for the first time in the state, he lamented. Referring to the “vishvas yatra” being undertaken by Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, from tomorrow Mr Rathore said such gimmicks would not help the party wash its sins of corruption, blatant nepotism and lack of governance. The party’s own ministers had raised the scandals like health purchase scam and levelled serious charges of corruption against the government. These ministers were still part and parcel of the Cabinet. Not only that, Mr Shanta Kumar, Union Minister for Rural Development, has put the Dhumal government in the dock by alleging that the delimitation of Assembly constituencies was a conspiracy to undermine the importance of Kangra and decimate him politically. With top leaders trading charges against each other and cadres thoroughly disillusioned with their own government, “vishvas yatra” would take the party “nowhere”, he said. He expressed apprehension that the BJP, VHP and RSS could resort to divisive tactics to create communal tension in the state during electioneering. |
|
Boycott
mars bus stand inauguration Solan, December 21 Mr Kushal Jethi who has recently presented his claim for the Solan constituency seat was not only denied a seat on the dais but also went unnoticed. He later expressed his resentment by saying that this was sending wrong signals to party cadres who were already divided into two factions. He also asserted that he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister and it was necessary to forge unity at this juncture when the elections were round the corner. Later talking to mediapersons, the Health Minister stated that the inquiry committee report relating to irregularities in the Health Department which were highlighted by the media would be made public within a week. He said the work on the zonal hospital would be started soon but did not rule out the possibility of selecting a new site as the present site had been declared unfit by geologists. |
|
Survey on heart diseases Shimla, December 21 Dr P.C. Negi, Professor of Cardiology at Indira Gandhi Medical College, who is in charge of the project, said in the first phase, 5000 residents of Shimla would be covered. The survey would be an exhaustive one and would not only reveal the incidence of heart diseases and the factors making people prove to these but also the prevalence of other associated diseases like diabetes, hypertension and high blood pressure. He said doctors generally believed that the incidence of heart diseases was higher in the hills but so far no systematic study had been conducted in this regard. Overall, South Asians were more prone to heart diseases than the Westerners. At present, 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the deaths in India were caused due to cardiovascular diseases. By 2015, the cardiovascular diseases would account for almost 50 per cent of the deaths. Hence, the need to conduct surveys to know the prevalence rate and factors responsible for these which were essential for putting in place an effective prevention mechanism. In the second phase of the survey, people living in the rural areas would be covered. The survey would commence from December 29. Ashadeep would organise camps in each municipal ward for carrying out the survey. |
|
Inspiring
women to be on their own Mandi, December 21 The delegates imparted training here to the women drawn from all over the district at a three-day workshop. The main thrust was that the self-employment ventures should be based on local raw material. At the conclusion of the workshop today the leader of the delegation, Ms Uma Reddy, said their association had played a pioneering role in Karnataka by motivating thousands of rural women to adopt self-employment and helped them achieve self-dependence. She stressed the need to incorporate new techniques and designs in weaving and traditional handicrafts for more profit. Expressing confidence in the hard-working rural women of Himachal Pradesh, Ms Uma asked them to harness their potential to the maximum and added that their earnest efforts would bring about prosperity in villages. Mr Jagdish Chander, Deputy Commissioner, told the delegation that as many as 70,000 women of the district were already involved in self-employment ventures through a network of 8000 self-help groups with the active support of the banks which had advanced them Rs 5 crore as loans. He said a Rs 13.86 crore centrally-sponsored Rural Development through Diversification of Agriculture Project had been launched in the district. He hoped that the maximum involvement of women would be ensured in this project. He said growing traditional crops alone could not bring about prosperity in villages. Farmers were, therefore, being advised to take up horticulture, animal husbandry, poultry, cultivation of herbs, flowers, aromatic plants, silk production etc. As many as 200 women entrepreneurs and representatives of self-help groups took part in the workshop. |
|
HP increases
stipend of docs Shimla, December 21 The increase would be Rs 600 per month for the first year, Rs 700 for the second year and Rs 900 for the third year and the total stipend payable would be Rs 7900, Rs 8200 and Rs 8700 per month, respectively for these categories. The proposal has been communicated to the agitating resident doctors. The government had already accepted the demand of the post graduate diploma holder doctors for grant of one advance increment and three advance increments to post-graduate degree holder doctors.
PTI |
|
Students
court arrest Shimla, December 21 The SFI has opened a morcha against Mr S.D. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, accusing him of being a BJP agent and holding him responsible for irregularities in question papers. The SFI has also charged the Vice-Chancellor with exercising favouritism in appointments in the university. Meanwhile, the ABVP dharna at the university continued for the sixth consecutive day today. The parishad is demanding a probe into the question paper scam. It took out an impressive rally on the HPU campus and sought the state government’s intervention in the matter. |
|
Two children burnt alive Shimla, December 21 All of them received severe burn injuries and two of them died on their way to Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital here. The third was battling for life at the hospital, family and police sources said.
UNI |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
