 |
Wednesday,
February 5, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
ISSUES, TRENDS & PROMISES BJP bows to rebels, fields
Shyama 39 file nomination
papers
OBCs may tilt scales in merged areas |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Charge against CM refuted KANGRA DISTRICT Party flags, banners burnt
Breakthrough in bitumen scam Bypass to be opened on April 1 World Wetlands Day celebrated
|
|
ISSUES, TRENDS & PROMISES It will be corruption versus development. The All-India Congress Committee by releasing a list of immovable properties of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and his immediate family members, has set its election campaign in motion by choosing “corruption” as the main issue. On the other hand, the ruling BJP will seek the electorate’s mandate on the basis of its performance claiming “overall development of the state during last five years”. “Corruption is an issue which is an instant hit with the electorate anywhere. The Congress has played this card successfully in Punjab and some other States in its series of electoral triumphs in Assembly elections,” says Ms Vidya Stokes, President, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, claiming that “it is not only the Chief Minister or his family , but the entire BJP government which indulged in rampant corruption during its five-year rule in the state”. “See any of the MoUs signed by the BJP government. The interests of the state have been sold. In none of the MoUs, any clause for giving jobs to unemployed skilled and unskilled Himachalis has been made. After we come to power, we are going to review all such MoUs, especially those in the power sector. How you can allow such a treachery with the interests of the state to go on unchecked ?,” she asks. The BJP, on the other hand maintains that “perturbed by severe infighting and its rout in the Gujarat elections, the Congress is trying to derail the state from its path of development.” It also denies allegations levelled against the Chief Minister, maintaining that most of the properties named in the list had been there much before Mr Dhumal became Chief Minister. Himachal Pradesh, a comparatively peaceful state, has had “corruption” as the main issue in the last two Assembly elections. When the Himachal Vikas Congress contested the elections in 1998, its then chief, Mr Sukh Ram, was still in the dock over the “telecom scam”. While Mr Sukh Ram has been claiming that he has been acquitted by the people’s court, who have voted him to a record victory. He still maintains that he was a victim of political conspiracy hatched by his opponents. Allegations of corruption had also been levelled against senior Congress leaders of the Congress, including three-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. He has described the allegations against him as “baseless”, maintaining that “no one has been able to prove any change. But the people are aware of the cases of corruption against Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, his ministerial colleagues and party men. People are not going to sit quiet this time.” “The main issue before the electorate of Himachal Pradesh will be development. What the BJP government has achieved in the last five years, the previous Congress government failed to achieve even in 50 years,” claims the BJP, maintaining that basic civic amenities, including drinking water, education and healthcare, have been the major thrust areas of development. The BJP government has been claiming credit for building over 250-odd bridges and providing over 3,500 km of new roads. The Congress claims that because of lopsided policies and programmes of the present BJP government, the fiscal deficit of the state has touched an all -time high. The problem of unemployment has grown manifold. The Congress also denies that “Hindutva” will be an issue in the elections. “Himachal is predominantly a Hindu -dominated state, with the minorities being just 2 per cent,” claims Ms Stokes, asserting that the “Narendra Modi card will not work in our state.” |
|
BJP bows to rebels, fields
Shyama Shimla, February 4 Mr Chander Mohan, a supporter of Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, was replaced by Mrs Shyama Sharma, who had resigned from the party in protest against the denial of ticket. It remains to be seen what course of action Mr Chander Mohan adopts. The party had allotted the ticket to Mr Hari Narain Singh, a Shanta Kumar loyalist, from Nalagarh and Mr Gian Singh Chandel from Theog. The party tried to bring back Mr Rakesh Verma, who resigned last month to contest as an Independent from Theog, into the party fold, but he refused. Meanwhile, Dr Ashok Kapadia, who had been denied the ticket from Shimla, today resigned from the state executive, the manifesto committee and the election campaign material committee. In a letter addressed to the state party chief and Central leaders, he said there was no rationale in granting the ticket to Mr Ganesh Dutt through the backdoor under pressure from Sangh Parivar functionary Chet Ram. He said he was hurt by the intentional discrimination between two swayamsevaks. He said the Sangh usually asked for tickets in the name of its various outfits and not for any particular person, as had been done in this case. He said he had been an activist of the ABVP, the state Suraksha Samiti and the Swadesh Jagran Manch for many years, yet his claim had been overlooked. He said he would continue to be a member of the BJP in the hope that the cult of sycophancy, nepotism, intrigues and unprincipled manipulation would come to an end and sincere and dedicated workers would be given due recognition. |
|
39 file nomination
papers Shimla, February 4 Kinnaur (ST) — Mr Jagat Singh Negi (Congress & Independent); Jubbal-Kotkhai — Mr Minakshi Khandroli (Independent); Theog — Mr Rajender Verma (Congress) and Mr Shiv Ram Chandel (Congress); Shimla — Mr Harbhajan Singh Bhajji (Congress); Mr Sanjay Chauhan (CPM) and Mr Om Prakash Chauhan (CPM); Kasumpti (SC) — Mr Tarsem Bharti (HVC); Arki — Mr Kailash Chand Bhargav (Independent); Mr Dharm Pal Thakur (Congress), Mr Diwakar Sharma (Independent); Doon — Mr Daljeet Singh Gill (Independent), Mr Hari Ram Kaushal (Independent); Shillai — Mr Sita Ram Sharma (HVC); Kotkehloor — Mr Krishan Kumar (HVC); Geharwin (SC) — Mr Dharminder Kumar (Independent); Nadaun — Mr Bahadur Singh (Independent); Mewa (SC) — Mr Amin Chand (Independent); Nadaunta — Mr Rattan Singh (Independent); Anita Devi (Independent), Gagret (SC) — Mr Kuldeep Kumar (Congress), Mr Prem Das Bhardwaj (HVC), Mr Tarsem Lal (ABHM); Santokhgarh — Mr Prem Bhatia (LJP), Mr Jagjit Singh (Independent); Jawali — Mr Krishan Kumar (HVC), Jawalamukhi — Mr Vijay Kumar (Independent); Rajgir (SC) — Mr Krishan Chand (Independent); Nagrota — Mr Ram Chand Bhatia (BJP), Mr Ramesh Kumar (HVC); Kangra — Mr Himal Chand (CPI); Rajnagar (SC) — Mr Surinder Bhardwaj (Congress); Mr Ajay Kumar (Independent); Chamba — Mr Harsh Mahajan (Congress); Uma (Congress), Mr D.P. Malhotra (HVC); Ani (SC) — Mr Layak Ram (Independent); Sundernagar — Mr Tek Chand (Independent), and Balh (SC) — Mr Indervir (Independent). |
|
OBCs may tilt scales in merged areas Shimla, February 4 Other backward classes have not been exactly pleased with the indifferent attitude of the Dhumal government towards their demands for 27 per cent reservation in government jobs. In fact, Mr Vidya Sagar, a minister in the coalition government, resigned in November in protest against the failure of the government to increase the quota. He maintained that Mr Dhumal had promised that the quota would be enhanced as and when the Jat community was granted OBC status. However, this did not happen. Mr Vidya Sagar is now contesting as an Independent. This has brought alive the reservation issue. It had faded into the background over the past decade. Other backward classes, which constitute about 20 per cent of the states population, are mostly concentrated in the merged areas, comprising Kangra, Una and parts of Hamirpur district. They can tilt the electoral scales in 18 constituencies, where they account for 20 per cent to 70 per cent of the electorate. The highest percentage of the OBCs is in Kangra and Nagrota Bagwan (about 70 per cent), followed by Shahpur, Guler, Paonta-Doon, Nadaun, Jwalamukhi, Chintpurani, Gagret and Santokhgarh. The other constituencies where the backward classes have a sizeable presence include Jaswan, Nurpur, Jwali, Una, Dharamsala, Sulah and Palampur. The OBCs became a significant political force following ‘mandalisation’ of the political scene during the V.P. Singh regime. The impact was more severe in Himachal Pradesh, which saw a prolonged anti-Mandal agitation. The BJP, which was in power at that time, lost the support of OBCs, as a result of which it was routed in the 1993 Assembly elections. The Congress, which came to power subsequently, initially reserved 10 per cent jobs for the OBCs and set up a commission to decide their exact quota on the basis of population. It raised the quota from 12 per cent to 15 per cent and finally 18 per cent on the recommendation of the commission. However, despite all this it was not able to keep its OBC votebank intact and a sizeable chunk of backward cases swayed back to the BJP in the 1998 elections. The raw deal given to Mr Ramesh Dhwala and Mr Vidya Sagar, the two OBC ministers in the Dhumal Government, has also been a cause of resentment in the community. Along with this the sidelining of Mr Shanta Kumar, who happens to be a Brahmin, somehow earned the BJP the tag of being pro-Rajput. The party appears to be quite aware of it and has taken due care to grant the ticket to 14 brahmins. Besides, 22 candidates from the Rajput community, four each from the backward classes and the Gaddi communities have be given the ticket. The congress has fielded 10 brahmins and 28 rajputs. However, the BJP has been able to strengthen its hold over the Gaddi vote. The BJP-led government at the Centre fulfilled a decade-old demand of the community for granting tribal status to the Gaddis living in Kangra on a par with those of Chamba. The BJP stands to gain in nearly six seats in Kangra and Chamba districts. |
|
Charge against CM refuted Dharamsala, February 4 Addressing mediapersons here, she said the site was owned by the nagar parishad of Dharamsala and was auctioned in 1989, when she, as the highest bidder, was allowed to run the restaurant on the ground floor at a monthly rent of Rs 606. She added that she had deposited a security of Rs 50,000. In 1990, she was granted permission for the construction of the first floor and a rent of Rs 400 per month was fixed, she stated. She said that since then, the restaurant was being managed and run by her. |
|
KANGRA DISTRICT Dharamsala, February 4 Dharamsala The number of voters has risen from 48,697 in 1998 to 56,264 now, showing an increase of about 15.5 per cent. According to survey figures available, there are 12,000 Gaddis, 4,700 Rajputs, 14,000 OBCs, 9,300 Brahmins, 5,000 Dalits, 4,000 Gurkhas and about 7,000 other community voters. Mr Kishan Kapoor of the BJP won in 1998. Kangra Totally an OBC dominated constituency, Kangra has always returned a Girth candidate. In 1998, it was Chaudhary Vidya Sagar (BJP) while in 1993 Mr Daulat Chaudhary (Congress) was victorious. There has been an increase of 15.7 per cent in voters between 1998 and 2003. The constituency, having 67,381 voters, including 440 service voters is dominated by women who surpass men voters by 573. There are 33,404 men and 33,977 women voters in Kangra. According to estimates, there are 4500 Brahmin voters, 6500 Rajputs 41,000 OBCs, 8,000 Dalits and 7,500 other communities voters in the Kangra constituency. Shahpur Apart from 1977 and 2003, Maj Vijay Singh Mankotia has been able to win and retain the seat. He won for the first time in 1982 as an Independent and later shifted his loyalties to Janata Dal winning on the party ticket in 1985 and 1990. In 1993 he contested as the Congress candidate and defeated Ms Sarween Chaudhary (BJP) by 1,281 votes in an eight-cornered contest. In the 1998 elections, Ms Sarween Chaudhary (BJP) had a sweet revenge when she turned the tables on Major Mankotia, who was defeated for the first time by a margin of 2,818 votes. There has been a sharp increase of almost 20 per cent in the number of electorate in Shahpur from 51,596 in 1998 to 61,338 in 2003. The constituency has about 5,600 Brahmin voters, 14,000 Rajputs, 18,000 OBCs, 6,000 Gaddis, 14,200 Dalits, a small number of about 300 nomadic Gujjars and 3,600 other community voters. Nagrota Bagwan Nagrota Bagwan is OBCs dominated constituency where women voters exceed men voters. Out of 61,525 voters, 31,228 are women, including 175 service voters while there are 30,297 men voters, including 378 service voters. The constituency has about 4,000 Brahmins, 5,000 Rajputs, 37,000 OBCs, 7,500 Dalits and 8,000 other castes. Barring 1998, the seat had always been won by an OBC. In 1998, while the BJP repeated its candidate, Mr Ram Chand Bhatia, the Congress for the first time fielded a non-OBC, Mr G.S. Bali, from the constituency. In a surprise upset, Mr Bali was able to beat Mr Bhatia by 1,277 votes. Sulah One of the most prestigious seats in Himachal, Sulah had the privilege of giving a Chief Minister to the state in Mr Shanta Kumar twice. Ironically, he lost the same seat twice in 1985 and 1993 when he was defeated by a little-known Congress leader, Mr Man Chand Rana. Sulah having 50,283 voters, is dominated by Rajputs, OBCs and Dalits who form almost 85 per cent of the electorate. There approximately 4,900 Brahmins, 14,500 Rajputs, 17,000 OBCs, 11,000 Dalits, 600 Gaddis and about 2,300 other castes. This constituency has the smallest number of electorate in Kangra district and was the subject of much controversy as the Delimitation Commission had proposed to scrap it. It has 27,438 women and 22845 men voters. In 1998, the BJP fielded Mr Vipin Singh Parmar, a Rajpur, against Mr Jagjiwan Paul (Congress) who belongs to a minority community. Mr Vipin Singh Parmar was able to scrape through by a slender margin of 125 votes. Baijnath A Gaddi-dominated constituency, it borders Mandi district. In 1998, Sant Ram of the Congress defeated Mr Dulo Ram by only 902 votes. After the death of Sant Ram, the Congress fielded his son Sudhir Sharma in the by-elections, who was defeated by Mr Dulo Ram. Baijnath has 57,107 voters, out of which there are about 11,000 Brahmins, 8,600 Rajputs, 2,000 OBCs, about 15,800 Gaddis, 3,400 Khatris and Mahajans, 14,000 Dalits and about 2,200 others. Rajgir Rajgir (reserved) has a dominant vote bank of the Koli community, which constitutes almost 44 per cent of the electorate. Out of 50,724 voters, Rajgir has about 22,000 Kolis, 6,000 Brahmins, 8,100 Rajputs, 5,200 OBCs, 1,100 Gaddis, 3,100 Khatris and Mahajans, about 3,000 Dalits and 220 other community voters. Capt Atma Ram of the BJP won the seat in 1998. Thural Mr Ravinder Singh Ravi won the seat in 1998. There are 53,969 voters — 13,500 Brahmins, 16,600 Rajputs, 5,200 OBCs, 600 Gaddis, 1,700 Khatris and Suds, 13,200 Dalits and about 3,200 others. Palampur Palampur has emerged as a Congress stronghold in the recent years. The seat was won by Mr Brij Behari Lal Butail in 1998. Palampur, with an electorate of 60,282, has about 15,000 Brahmins, 9,000 Rajputs, 11,000 OBCs, 8,000 Gaddis, 6,000 Khatri and Mahajans, 8,300 Dalits and about 3,000 other communities. In 1998, Mr BBL Butail polled 18,450 votes against 17,658 of Dr Shiv Kumar (BJP) in a seven-cornered contest. Jwalamukhi Jwalamukhi has a total electorate of 59,003, comprising about 7,500 Brahmins, 18,000 Rajputs, 25,000 OBCs, 4,600 Dalits, 1,200 Gujjars and about 3,200 others. In 1998, Mr Ramesh Dhwala, Independent, won in a five-cornered contest by 1,061 votes. Pragpur The BJP retained the seat in the 1998 by-election, held due to the death of Verinder Kumar, who died immediately after the Assembly elections. The constituency has an electorate of 56,957 — about 11,800 Brahmins, 18,900 Rajputs, 7,700 OBCs, 14,000 Dalits, 500 Gujjars and about 4,000 voters of other communities. Jaswan There are 50,355 voters in this Rajput-dominated constituency. There are about 8,100 Brahmins, 18,200 Rajputs, 10,000 OBCs, 9,700 Dalits, 400 Gujjars and about 3,900 voters of other communities. The seat was won by Ms Viplove Thakur of the Congress in 1998. Guler Mr Chander Kumar of the Congress won the seat in 1998. There are 16,000 Rajputs, 16,000 OBCs, 5,700 Brahmins, 500 Gaddis, 2,100 Khatris and Mahajans, 6,200 Dalits, 1,000 Gujjars and about 4,500 other community voters. Jawali Jawali has 67,443 voters and is the second largest Assembly constituency in Kangra district. According to surveys, there are about 6,800 Brahmins, 21,000 Rajputs, 21,000 OBCs, 1,300 Gaddis, 3,000 Khatris and Mahajans, 7,500 Dalits, 800 Gujjars and about 6,000 voters from other communities. In 1998, Dr Rajan Sushant of the BJP won the seat. Gangath There are 65,151 voters in Gangath (reserved) constituency, of which there are about 14,500 Brahmins, 16,000 Rajputs, 5,100 Ghirath, 21,000 Dalits, 2,000 Gujjars and 6,600 other caste voters. Mr Desh Raj won by 148 votes in 1998. Nurpur Nurpur, the largest Vidhan Sabha segment in Kangra, has 76396 votes including 682 service voters while women voters are 37553 including 254 service voters. In the constituency, which is Rajput dominated, has about 11500 Brahmins, 37,000 Rajputs, 3500 OBCs, 4500 Gaddis, 500 Khatri/Mahajan, 7700 Dalits, 1000 Gujjars and 6800 other community voters. Mr Sat Mahajan (Congress) won by a record margin of 15091 votes in 1993, defeating Mr Megh Raj Awasthi of the BJP. In 1998, Mr Rakesh Pathania (BJP) defeated Mr Ranjit Bakhshi (Congress) in
seven cornered contest. |
|
|
Party flags, banners burnt Solan, February 4 Irate Rana supporters assembled in front of his “election office” at Nalagarh late in the evening and expressed their anger by shouting slogans. Some miscreants reportedly set fire to the BJP flags and banners during the demonstration but this was denied by local party leaders. |
|
Breakthrough in bitumen scam Shimla, February 4 Investigations have revealed, that orders for supply of 2,400 tonnes of bitumen emulsion worth Rs 2.5 crore were placed with M/s Sudesh Enterprises, Solan, even though it did not have even the necessary facilities for processing and testing the material such as the heating arrangement, bitumen agitators and water pump. The experts of the Indian Oil Corporation, who inspected the factory, had pointed this out and reported that bitumen emulsion could not be processed without these facilities. It had also been found during the investigations that the factory did not have any power supply or stand by alternative source of power supply during the relevant period when the bitumen emulsion was reported to have been processed. The experts have opined that in the absence of the essential power supply, bitumen processing could not be done. Samples of bitumen supplied by the firm were sent to a Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, for evaluation, analysis and comparison with national specifications, but the samples failed because of less bitumen content and less viscosity and thus were found to be sub-standard. During searches conducted in the house of the proprietors of the firm, some printouts of telephone calls made from residential phones for the relevant period revealed that Mr Sikand and Mr Karnal Anand, the proprietor, were in contact with each regularly. Surprisingly, most of the telephonic contacts were followed by the issue of supply orders of bitumen emulsion to the supplier by Mr Sikand. The supplier was also found to have submitted false records of the truck union of Nalagarh to the PWD to show transportation of bitumen emulsion so as to claim and obtain payments. The investigation of the case is now in the final stages. |
|
|
Bypass to be opened on April 1 Kumarhatti, February 4 Highly-placed sources in the Public Works Department (B and R), Solan Division, except for some minor works, the bypass was ready for vehicular traffic. The bypass, linking this town to Solan, has taken more than 15 years to complete, with nearly half of the work completed during the past three years. Interestingly, private vehicles have already started plying on the bypass despite signboards put by the PWD authorities, prohibiting vehicles on it. |
|
World Wetlands Day celebrated Nurpur, February 4 This was stated by the Principal Secretary, Science and Information Technology Department, Himachal Pradesh, while presiding over a function in connection with the World Wetlands Day on the banks of the lake yesterday. AMRITSAR: “Wetlands are vital but fragile ecosystems that have immense value to mankind because of their role in supporting biodiversity, groundwater recharging, flood and storm abatement and pollution control”. This was stated by Dr Anish Dua, a senior lecturer in the Zoology Department, Guru Nanak Dev University, on the concluding day of a function on Tuesday, which was organised in connection with the World Wetlands Day. Dr K.H. Mangat, head of the Zoology Department, also spoke. An exhibition of posters was arranged and a video-film titled, “Wetlands, Water and Sustainability” was shown to students on the occasion, which was provided to the department by the Ramsar Bureau, Gland, Switzerland. |
|
|
Kajol’s sister hurt
Shimla, February 4 |
|
BJP office-bearers quit BILASPUR: A number of BJP leaders and office-bearers of the district unit of the party have resigned along with their supporters in protest against the denial of the party ticket from Kotkehloor to former MLA Krishan Kumar Kaushal. This was announced at a press conference here on Tuesday. At a party meeting at Toba, about 80 km from here, on Monday they also urged Mr Kaushal to resign from the BJP and contest the elections on the Himachal Vikas Congress ticket. OC EC appoints observers
|
 |
| 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 | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Videos
