Development, peace are Kanwal’s planks

MR Kanwal Singh, the Haryana Vikas Party candidate from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, is contesting a parliamentary election for the first time in his three-decade political career. Before this, he has contested the state Assembly elections five times and won thrice. He was first elected to the Assembly from the Ghirai constituency in 1977 on the Janata Party ticket. He sought re-election in 1982 and again won this time on the Lok Dal ticket. He was born in 1937 to Capt Ranjit Singh, a well-known landlord. He graduated from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and later worked as assistant manager in a tea estate in Assam. His wife is a close relative of former Prime Minister, the late Charan Singh. He fell out with Devi Lal in the early eighties. He contested the Ghirai seat in 1987 and lost. However, he was elected on the HVP ticket in 1996 and became the Panchayat and Development Minister in the Bansi Lal government. But he lost the election in 2000 to his nephew. He is a bitter critic of Devi Lal and his clan. He fell out with the Chautalas after Devi Lal and Charan Singh parted ways.

Q. What is your main poll plank?

A. Haryana owes its development to Mr Bansi Lal. Whatever we see today was created as and when Mr Bansi Lal ruled the state. The other governments in the state have only squandered funds for personal benefits. The infrastructure created by Mr Bansi Lal has slowly withered away. Our party wants to restore Haryana’s lost glory. We will ensure that the state has ample funds for development. Besides, law and order has been a casualty in the state whenever it has slipped out of HVP hands. We will make the state a peaceful place to live in.

Q. You say corruption is the bane of Haryana, how do you plan to remove it?

A. Haryana today is the most corrupt state in the country. Under the present government, corrupt elements in the government have flourished and honest officials have been sent packing. Under Mr Bansi Lal, the situation was the opposite. The most honest and able officers were given key positions to ensure that development works were executed honestly and funds utilised properly. We will root out corruption from the state.

Q. What plans do you have for the Hisar area?

A. I will work for providing a rail link between Hisar and Chandigarh. The Railways has never paid much attention to this area. This link is vital for the development of the area. Besides, I want that the National Capital Region be extended to Hisar. The NCR boundary ends at Hansi. Hisar rightly deserves the facilities which are planned for the NCR areas. I will also work for providing better roads in the rural areas.

Q. As a progressive farmer, what changes do you want in agriculture?

A. There is a need for diversification. But nothing can happen in Haryana till the SYL Canal is completed. We are working for the completion of the canal to usher in another Green Revolution in Haryana.

Sports varsity in Jind tops Barwala’s agenda

MR Surinder Singh Barwala, Indian National Lok Dal nominee from Hisar, is trying for a hat trick. He won this seat in 1998 and again in 1999. This time his plans were rudely upset when his party decided not to field him in the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll and he was appointed chairman of the Public Enterprises Board. However, ultimately he managed to convince the leadership and is contesting the poll for the third time in a row. Mr Barwala was born in 1951 in Sangatpura village of Jind district. He graduated from Dayal Singh College, Karnal, and then joined Kurukshetra University for his Ll.B degree. He was president of the KU Students Union in 1972. He plunged into politics in 1987 when he was elected to the Assembly from the Barwala constituency. He became Education Minister in the Devi Lal cabinet. In 1998, he won the Hisar Lok Sabha seat for the first time by a margin of 80,000 votes. This margin doubled the next time in 1999.

Q. What is your poll plank?

A. The INLD government has created a record by executing the largest number of development projects in the state during the past five years. So, naturally I want that the process set in motion should be continued. Now is the time to accelerate the projects and make Haryana the most developed state in the country in the next five years. This is possible only under the leadership of Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. We will continue to work for the development of Haryana.

Q. What plans do you have in mind for Hisar area?

A. The Centre at our initiative had decided to set up a sports university in Jind. The execution of this project is on the top of my agenda. This is a prestigious project. Haryana’s new sports policy and the initiatives to sportspersons have produced results. The setting up of this university will go a long way in promoting sports in Haryana. Besides, a food processing plant has been sanctioned for Narwana. The commissioning of this plant will benefit a large number of farmers of the area. This is next on my agenda.

Q. You were Haryana’s Education Minister. What plans do you have now for education?

A. Technical and professional courses under the new education policy have to be started. This alone can train our youth for employment as well as self-employment. This, together with intensive industrialisation, will help end joblessness in the state.

Q. As a two-term MP, what is your biggest achievement?

A. I have ensured equitable distribution of development grant from my own fund as well as state funds for both rural and urban areas.

Agra: SP nominee Raj Babbar has an edge
L.H. Naqvi
Tribune News Service

AGRA: According to the Sangh Parivar’s reading of Indian history the establishment of Mughal rule in India was akin to the sting of the “bichchoo ghaans”, a nettle found in the hills. The antidote for “bichchoo ghaans” sting grows close to the troublesome nettle. Rub a few leaves of nature’s antidote and the pain disappears. It has taken history several centuries to discover the antidote that could banish the “pain” of Mughal rule.

In the words of a BJP worker it is no one else but Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has provided the healing touch to the centuries-old “Mughal wound”. It could just be a coincidence that he was born in Bateshwar village, about 60 km outside Agra. Since the seeds of Mughal rule were sown in Agra, the painkiller had to be found close by!

Had the seat of power not shifted to Delhi he would have been addressing the nation from the ramparts of the relatively modest Agra Fort. However, as far as the outcome of the more localised battle for the Agra Lok Sabha seat is concerned no party can claim to be in a winning position. Mr Vajpayee’s charisma may not help his party’s candidate’s chances of winning. The days of political waves are now over. Local factors and trends usually make the difference. The BJP is nowhere in the race although local newspapers regularly carry pictures of Mr Murarilal Fatehpuri meeting voters and addressing workers. The Bahujan Samaj Party in keeping with its policy of an image makeover has fielded a Brahmin, Mr Keshav Dixit. The Congress is nowhere in the frame yet. What about the Samajwadi Party? Who would want to vote for a party whose leader openly patronises goons and musclemen?

Be that as it may, this election has created a unique phenomenon. It has whipped up a Raj Babbar wave in Agra. He will win not because he is a Samajwadi, but because of the personal rapport he has established with the voters in the past five years as the hardworking representative of the people. You talk to Rickshaw-pullers and they swear by him. Local traders run out of adjectives to describe what he has done for the people of Agra.

Indeed the roads are in a better state of upkeep in the city of the Taj Mahal than anywhere else in Uttar Pradesh. The people have no reservation in giving the credit to their political hero, who even at the height of his career as an actor in Bollywood was regarded as just a good support cast.

On Friday local newspapers carried the news of Mr Babbar leading a delegation of local industrialists to Delhi for the redress of their grievances by Gas Authority of India Limited. They will not have to shut down their units following the promise of regular supplies by GAIL.

Mr Babbar himself is aware that the people are with him and not with the Samajwadi Party or its leader, UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. The banners and posters carry only his picture. In his public meetings he talks about the work that still needs to be done for making Agra a better city for the locals and a dream destination for the foreign tourists. These are tall promises. But people are certain that he will not let them down.

In neighbouring Firozabad, a reserved constituency, Mr Ramjilal Suman enjoys a similar reputation.

He too avoids making any reference to Mr Mulayam Singh in his election meetings because of the general feeling of hostility among the voters towards the Chief Minister.

They will vote right on zero line after 20 yrs

Octerie (Indo-Pak Border), April 9
Joyous over Casting votes for the first time right on zero line for restoration of permanent peace, border residents here are bracing up for the battle of the ballot devoid of fear due to ceasefire along the Indo-Pak Border in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are very thrilled to vote for the first time in 20 years at a polling station right on zero line, just 50 km away from the Pakistan observation post in our border village without any fear of shelling and firing,” 72-year-old Nimoo Devi said at the Suchetgarh border hamlet, just 20 metres away from zero line in the Jammu parliamentary constituency, here yesterday.

Nimoo, whose house was damaged along with several others due to pak firing and had to migrate to another village, said: “We want to live in our village with peace. We will give votes this time so that peace along the Indo-Pak border is restored permanently.

Nimoo returned to her village on the international border after the Indo-Pak ceasefire came into force four and a half months back.

Like her, 80-year old Chowdary Ram Rakha tells BJP candidate for the Jammu-Poonch parliamentary, Dr Nirmal Singh, during his campaign “you will get votes of the border migrants provided you guarantee permanent Indo-Pak border ceasefire for complete peace so that people live here peacefully”.

The border residents praise the Centre for the Ceasefire.

“Residents of the border areas do not want anything except complete peace without firing and shelling from Pakistan,” Minister of State for Rural Development Garoo Ram, who represents the border assembly constituency of Suchetgarh, said.

As many as 278 persons have been killed and 815 injured and 41 structures damaged in the cross-border shelling and firing during the past 15 years along the LoC and the international border in the state, he adds.

“As far as the coalition government is concerned, we have pressured the Centre to announce EID ceasefire and they did It on November 26 last year,” he said, adding that from then people here are having a peaceful life.

As many as 11 lakh persons are living in over 30 border villages Along the Indo-Pak border in J&K, he said, adding that electioneering was on a high pitch.

Flags fluttering atop vehicles, crowds shouting slogans and songs eulogising one political party or the other have now Become the order of the day in the Jammu-Poonch and Udhhampur-Kathua Lok Sabha constituencies. So far, 19 public rallies have been held in different Border areas on the zero line in the Hirnagar, R.S Pura, Samba, Akhnoor, Nowshera, Mendhar, Poonch and Sunderbani areas by the BJP, the NC, the Congress, the BSP and the Panthers Party, a Jammu zone police officer said. — PTI

TDP fields more women

Hyderabad, April 9
The TDP on Thursday claimed that it had given top priority to representation of women by fielding 54 women in the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly poll.

TDP supremo and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu pointed out that women had been fielded in 50 of the 267 Assembly constituencies the party was contesting. Similarly, of the 33 Lok Sabha seats the TDP would contest, four had been given to women candidates.

Referring to the Assembly ticket given to women in other parties, he pointed out that the representation of women in the Congress was only 21, two each in the TRS and the BJP and one in the CPM.

“The TDP has the distinction of increasing the allotment of seats to women for the Assembly in the past four elections. The TDP gave the ticket to seven women in the 1994 elections, 34 in 1999 and now it has gone up to 50. In the next elections, the TDP is determined to follow 33 per cent reservation to women in the Reservation Bill in Parliament,” he explained.

On the contrary the Congress selected 18 women during the 1994 Assembly elections, 26 during 1999 and 21 in the 2004 poll. — UNI

NDA manifesto burnt

Mysore, April 9
In a show of solidarity with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Karnataka Urban Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar joined Congress workers in burning a copy of the NDA manifesto here today.

He expressed anger against the NDA’s declaration in its manifesto that it would introduce legislation to ban persons of foreign origin from holding high office.

Later, he told reporters that the NDA had brought up the foreign origin issue only because it “feared defeat” in the elections. Regarding the decision of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda to contest from two Lok Sabha constituencies, he said Mr Gowda entered the fray in Hassan fearing that he would lose from Kanakapura. While denying differences among senior Congress leaders he said: “It is natural for some statements to be made.” — UNI

Stage set for battle royale in Mandi
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 9
The stage has been set for a battle royale with Rani Pratibha Singh, wife of Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, entering the fray to challenge Tika Maheshwar Singh of the BJP in the country’s second largest parliamentary constituency of Mandi.

It will be second time that Mrs Pratibha Singh was taking on Mr Maheshwar Singh, who also happens to be her close relative, in the electoral arena. She unsuccessfully contested against him in 1998 after Mr Sukh Ram joined hands with the BJP to ensure her defeat. She lost the election by 1,31,832 votes. She did not contest the 1999 elections when Mr Maheshwar Singh defeated Mr Kaul Singh by 1,31,025 votes.

Spread over an area of 34,383 sq km and encompassing the landlocked tribal belt, the Mandi constituency had been mostly represented by the rulers of erstwhile princely states. Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur was the first to get elected from the constituency in 1952. Thereafter, Mr Joginder Sen, a former ruler of Suket state, emerged victorious in 1957. His son Tika Lalit Sen won the seat in 1962 and 1967.

Mr Virbhadra Singh, a former ruler of Rampur Bushair, held the seat from 1971 to 1977 and 1980 to 1983 when he became the Chief Minister of the state.

Mr Ganga Singh of the Janata Party was the first commoner to win the seat in 1977.

While Mr Sukh Ram was elected in 1984, 1991 and 1996, BJP leader Maheshwar Singh won the seat in 1989, 1998 and 1999.

Geographically, it is the most difficult constituency as a vast part of it remains snowbound for about six months in a year. It comprises 17 Assembly segments, including three tribal segments, the Rampur segment in Shimla and Mandi and Kulu districts. It also has the distinction of having the highest polling booth of the country at Hikkam in Lahaul-Spiti, situated at 15,000 ft. There are over 200 booths, which were located at an altitude of over 10,000 ft.

Normally, the polling in the three snow-bound tribal segments of Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Bharmour is deferred to June after the mountain passes open.

However, this time the Border Roads Organisation is working overtime to clear the passes by the end of April. If it succeeds, the polling will take place along with the rest of the state on May 10.

Both Mr Maheshwar Singh and Mrs Pratibha Singh have been intensively campaigning in the constituency for the past almost two months. The entry of Mr Sukh Ram, who has also started campaigning, could upset their calculations. Mr Sukh Ram still wields considerable influence, particularly in his home district of Mandi and his presence in the arena will be a cause of concern for the main contenders.

Jat, Gujjar candidates preferred
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

Dausa, April 9
The BJP decision to nominate Kartar Singh Bhadana as its candidate from this constituency is no reward for the Gujjar leader for crossing over from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). It seems to be a conscious decision.

Keeping in mind the influence which the Jat and the Gujjar communities had over the voting pattern in the last Lok Sabha elections, both the BJP and Congress have given more prominence to the candidates from these communities in the constituencies dominated by them.

A total of 20 sitting MPs have been repeated by the two parties for the 25 parliamentary constituencies in Rajasthan. While the BJP has dropped sitting Bayana MP Bahadur Singh Koli and sitting MP from Alwar Jaswant Yadav, the Congress has kept up the tradition in Banswara where a local candidate has been nominated.

The BJP has woken up to the need of nominating Jat community candidates from the traditional Jat seats of Bikaner, Nagaur, Sikar, Bharatpur and Churu. It has also nominated candidates from the community for the Jhalawar and Jhunjhunu seats. While Dushyant Singh is being fielded from Jhalawar, Santosh Ahlawat is the nominee from Jhunjhunu.

The Congress has also not lagged behind. For the first time, it has put up a Jat candidate from the Jodhpur constituency. However, while cutting out the name of Jagat Singh, son of senior party leader Natwar Singh, from the Bharatpur constituency, it has nominated a candidate from the Gujjar community, Ved Prakash Gujjar.

With the Gujjars and Jats of Haryana extending their influence over the neighbouring belts of Rajasthan, the BJP decision to field Kartar Singh Bhadana from Dausa is a gamble of pitting a Gujjar candidate against another Gujjar community candidate Sachin Pilot.

The last time the BJP had not given ticket to a single Gujjar candidate in Rajasthan. This time, the decision stems from the fact that the Pilots have been ruling over the constituency for a long time. The BJP, on the other hand, seems to have come up with a credible Gujjar leader to challenge the Pilots. It is an attempt to woo the Gujjar community.

On the last occasion, the BJP had nominated three candidates from the Brahmin community, but on this occasion they have reduced the number by one while the Congress has increased the number by one from two to three. It has nominated Hari Mohan Sharma from Kota, Kailash Vyas from Bhilwara and senior party leader Girija Vyas from Udaipur.

While the BJP has brought in four outsiders to Rajasthan — film star Dharmendra, Kartar Singh Bhadana, Baba Chandnath and Ms Sushila Laxman, the Congress has brought in Ved Prakash from Delhi.

While Udaipur would be the only constituency which would see a direct fight between two women candidates — Girija Vyas and Sushila Laxman, the BJP has put up at least three more women candidates. The Congress has given ticket to just one woman candidate.

Cong faces uphill task in Uttaranchal

Dehra Dun, April 9
Faced with twin challenges of countering the BJP as well as the enemy within, the ruling Congress is facing an uphill task in the run-up to the May 10 Lok Sabha elections for all five seats in Uttaranchal.

In the face of a formidable challenge posed by BJP candidates like Union Highways Minister Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Bachi Singh Rawat and scion of Tehri dynasty Maharaja Manvendra Shah, the Congress is in a dilemma over how to devise a strategy to unseat the saffron party stalwarts.

“Yes, it would be a challenging task to beat these leaders,” admits state party spokesman Surendra Kumar.

Currently, four out of the five Lok Sabha seats from the state are with the BJP.

Congress’ worries stem from the fact that except Mr Vijay Bahuguna, son of former UP Chief Minister H.N. Bahuguna, who is contesting for the second time from the Tehri constituency, all remaining four candidates are new faces as far as the Lok Sabha elections are concerned.

“In the list of candidates declared last evening, only Mr Bahuguna had contested the Lok Sabha elections in the past, albeit unsuccessfully,” Mr Surinder Kumar said.

But Mr Bahuguna, who has locked horns with Shah from Tehri, is also facing opposition from his own party leaders like Irrigation Minister Shurvir Singh Sajwan and Industrial Development Minister Kisho Upadhyay, who were also interested in contesting from this seat.

Mr Deepak Kumar, a former Uttar Pradesh Minister, is facing the wrath of Congress leaders in Hardwar because he is considered to be an outsider there, sources said.

Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari, who was initially interested in contesting from his home constituency of Nainital, changed his mood at the eleventh hour and instead forwarded the name of confidant K.C. Singh Baba from the area.

But sitting MP Mahendra Singh Pal is peeved over the move with his supporters calling for reconsideration of the official party nominee from Nainital, a seat held by Mr Tiwari for several years. — PTI

Notice served on Sangma

Shillong, April 8
Nationalist Trinomool Congress (NTC) leader Purno A. Sangma was served a notice for his alleged breach of code of conduct in electioneering for the Tura parliamentary seat in Meghalaya’s Garo hills region.

The notice was served on Mr Sangma by the Returning Officer of the Tura Lok Sabha seat, Mr S. Jagannathan, after the Congress complained to him alleging Mr Sangma’s breach of conduct in respect of posters pasted by his party supporters.

Mr Jagannathan said that Mr G. Arengh, an election agent of Congress nominee Mukul Sangma in Tura, alleged in the complaint that Mr P.A. Sangma in his poll-related posters had used NTC as the party name which, he said, was ‘neither registered nor recognised by the Election Commission’.

Another complaint levelled against the former Lok Sabha Speaker alleged that Mr Sangma had not mentioned the name of the printer in election posters. — PTI

Law, medical graduates in fray

Ahmedabad, April 9
Many law and medical graduates are in the fray for the April 20 Lok Sabha poll in Gujarat.

Twelve law graduates and six doctors are among the BJP and Congress candidates for 26 constituencies of Gujarat.

The number of candidates holding the degrees in law and medicine is also high in six reserved constituencies of Gujarat. — UNI

Rajasthan royalty rules the roost
Manhoar Prabhakar

Jaipur, April 9
The influence of royalty is bound to play a significant role in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. More than three crore voters will decide the fate of contestants of the two major political parties — the BJP and Congress — in Rajasthan.

In the 1962 Vidhan Sabha elections, the Swatantra Party under the leadership of Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur had posed a threat to the Congress. But shrewd politician Mohan Lal Sukhadia managed to save the situation and the Congress was in the saddle.

The glory and grip of the royalty in Rajasthan politics reached at its zenith, when Maharani Vasundhra Raje of the royal house of Dholpur led the BJP in the Vidhan Sabha elections held in last December and became the first woman Chief Minister of the state.

This is for the first time when a woman Chief Minister will be leading her party in the Lok Sabha elections too. Several constituencies of the state would witness the influence of the former maharajas and maharanis and members of the royalty in the state.

The biggest area prone to the influence of royal houses is the Brij bhasha speaking belt of eastern Rajasthan. The royal house of Bharatpur bears a direct influence over the Bharatpur and Bayana Lok Sabha seats, as also the neighbouring areas of Alwar and Dausa constituencies.

The Jat royalty of Bharatpur had started intervening in the election scenario right from the first election to the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha in 1952. At that time, Bachhu Singh, younger brother of the former ruler of Bharatpur, was elected to the Lok Sabha and his other brother, Raja Man Singh, was elected to the legislative Assembly. Raja Man Singh remained a member of the Assembly from 1952 to 1984. He was killed in an encounter during the election campaign of 1985. The then state Chief Minister, Shiv Charan Mathur, was asked to step down on that account.

Maharaja Brijendra Singh and his son Vishvendra Singh have also remained members of the Lok Sabha. Vishvendra Singh was a BJP member in the recent dissolved Lok Sabha also.

The daughter of Raja Man Singh, Krishnendra Kaur Deepa, has also been a Member of Parliament from the Bharatpur constituency. She is currently a Member of the state Assembly. The wife of Vishvendra Singh has also remained MP. Another member of this family, Arun Singh, has returned to the Legislative Assembly for the third time.

This time, Vishvendra Singh has deserted the BJP because of his annoyance with the manner in which ticket were allotted in the recent Vidhan Sabha elections. He resigned from the Lok Sabha to join the INLD and will play an important role in the electoral theatre of the area. The comparatively weaker performance of the BJP in the recent Assembly elections in eastern Rajasthan could be largely attributed to this factor. The Congress had tried to induct Vishvendra in its fold, but because of protest from senior Congress leader Natwar Singh, these efforts could not be fruitful.

The Alwar royal house has also been exercising its influence in regional politics. Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, is a Member of the state Legislative Assembly from the Congress.

In southern Rajasthan, the erstwhile state of Doongarpur, has also had its innings. Raj Singh Doongarpur, who is a sports celebrity, had joined the BJP at the time of Assembly elections. His father Maharal Laxman Singh had remained the Speaker of Rajasthan State Legislative Assembly for a long time.

This time, former Jagirdars of Uniara, Shahpura and some other areas would also play a role in the elections. Digvijay Singh of Uniara has already served as Home Minister of the State in the Shekhawat cabinet.

Dushyanat Singh, son of Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, has been fielded as BJP candidate for the Lok Sabha seat from the Jhalawar constituency while Manvendra Singh, son of Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, is contesting in the Barmer constituency on BJP ticket.

BRIEFLY

NAIDU FAMILY ASSETS RS 20 CR
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s fixed and movable assets account for Rs 1.58 crore while his wife N. Bhuvaneswari has total assets worth Rs 19.34 crore. According to an affidavit submitted by the TDP leader, his assets include a plot in Posh Jubilee Hills worth Rs 1.20 crore and another at Banjara Hills valued at Rs 30 lakh while his savings and deposits are valued at Rs 5 lakh. Bhuvaneswari, daughter of late Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao, has bonds, debentures and investments in listed and unlisted companies to the tune of Rs 70 lakh and above, besides immovable properties including jewellery, non-agricultural land, commercial properties. — PTI

BHUPEN HAS JUST RS 20,000
GUWAHATI: Congress candidate Mani Subba is the richest politician of Assam with Rs 19 crore while BJP candidate Bhupen Hazarika has just Rs 20,000, according to their affidavits submitted along with the nomination papers. Mr Subba’s total assets are Rs 19 crore and his personal jewellery is worth Rs 74 lakh. — UNI