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Face to Face
Constituency
Profile: Gurdaspur Constituency
Profile: Bathinda
State
of Parties: SAD State
of Parties: Congress State
of Parties: BJP 33
criminal candidates in Maharashtra Terror
tactics in filthiest town Campaigning,
Nafisa style CRY
takes up children’s issues with parties RJD
prospects bright in Vaishali Voting
under shadow of gun In
Orissa, it is ‘Mr clean’ vs ‘club of corrupt’ Muslim
voters in a fix |
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Face to Face:
A. I have only one goal — that is to make Orissa the number one state in the country. Personal ratings are not of much relevance till that is achieved. Q. Your detractors allege that you are using your father’s name for electoral gains. A. My father the late Biju Patnaik had a dream for Orissa and I am here to fulfil that dream. In that context only I use his name. Q. It is said your government has nothing to show in these last four years. A. That’s not true. There has been a lot of focus on rural development and the Centre and the state had got together. There are many plans and projects that remain to be attended to. Q. But your erstwhile partymen have ganged up against you. A. Those who were thrown out of the party have joined hands and the Congress. They are totally discredited. Let them harp on ‘Naveen hatao’. My slogan is ‘corruption hatao’. The Congress has become a club of the corrupt and JB Patnaik by fielding himself, his wife and his son-in-law has set up a very bad example of nepotism. Q. You didn’t give ticket to some discredited leaders and a top IAS officer has been sent to jail. Are these all election gimmicks? A. No. This has been done
before too. A number of ministers have been dropped on corruption
charges and proceedings are on against the corrupt whether they are
politicians or officers. This would continue. I am determined to weed
out corruption and give the people of Orissa a clean government. |
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Constituency Profile:
Ambala It is for the first time that a Shiromani Akali Dal Haryana candidate is going to contest. Political parties who are fielding their candidates include the Haryana Vikas Party, the BSP, the Ekta Shakti and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. Rural voters form the major chunk in this constituency. The Ambala Lok Sabha seat has 12,00,061 voters, areas including 5,682 defence forces voters. The constituency comprises nine Assembly segments and is spread over three districts of Ambala, Panchkula and Yamunanagar. The segments which form a part of the Ambala Lok Sabha seat include Ambala City, Ambala Cantt, Naraingarh, Mullana, Sadhaura, Chachrauli, Kalka, Naggal and Jagadhari. In 1977, Dr Suraj Bhan had defeated Mr Ram Prakash (Congress). In 1980, too, he retained the seat. In 1984, 1989 and 1991, the seat was wrested by Mr Ram Prakash (Congress). Dr Bhan won again in 1996 by defeating Mr Sher Singh (Congress). The next general election held in 1998 was perhaps the first time that a non-Congress, non-BJP candidate won the seat. Mr Aman Kumar Nagra (BSP) won in 1998, defeating Dr Bhan.
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Constituency Profile:
Gurdaspur This Lok Sabha constituency has returned Ms Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder of the Congress for five consecutive terms, beginning 1980. But she lost in 1998 and again in 1999, when it was a narrow miss — by less than 1,400 votes. She is again in the fray, challenging the two-term MP and minister, Mr Vinod Khanna of the BJP. Both have accepted the challenge and promise employment and economic uplift. Though the Congress candidate’s husband, Mr P. S. Bhinder, had got a large number of youths recruited into the police during his service, the challenge persists. Now, Mr Khanna promises to provide three lakh jobs in the next five years. And there is also third man n the poll arena, Mr Brij Mohan Julka of the BSP, who belongs to the Kashtiar caste, which is also engaged in agriculture. His presence will be felt more by the Congress, while the Christian and Gujjar vote will split. As one crosses the controversial Naushehra Pattan bridge over the Beas from Mukerian, connecting Hoshiarpur to Gurdaspur, one finds that there is virtually no road. It is a dirt track. Wherever traces of a road exist, there are craters. Incidentally, the state’s Public works (B and R) Minister, Mr Partap Singh Bajwa belongs here, representing the Kahnuwan Assembly segment. This bridge has become a major election issue. Both the SAD-BJP and Congress are taking credit for its sanction and commissioning. Petty politics had resulted in this bridge being inaugurated twice, once by Mr Khanna and again by Capt Amarinder Singh. As to the mood of the people, it is somber. Out of the 12 lakh-odd voters, the Sikh peasantry is dominant in Dhariwal, Kahnuwan and Fatehgarh Churian, while Hindu voters dominate the Narot Mehra, Pathankot and Sujanpur areas. Both are almost equally placed in the Dinanagar and Gurdaspur belt. There is a sizeable Christian and Gujjar vote too that can tilt the scales. Here, the literacy percentage is high —74.2. Out of the nine Assembly segments here, eight are represented by Congress MLAs. Among them are three Cabinet ministers and one Speaker. The Dhariwal Assembly seat is with Mr Sucha Singh Chhotepur, who successfully contested it on the All-India Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal ticket in February 2002. This outfit was floated by the late Gurcharan Singh Tohra, when he had parted company with Mr Parkash Singh Badal. For whom would Mr Chhotepur campaign? He is reportedly close to Capt Amarinder Singh. Ms Bhinder has an impressive list of contributions and achievements of her five terms. These include the setting up of ITIs or opening of an engineering college or hotel management institution. While cohesiveness is missing in the Congress campaign, there is a whispering campaign against Mr Khanna, the actor-turned-politician. The SAD and BJP are yet to work out strategies for joint
campaigning. The main charge against him is his absence and inaccessibility and also catering only to a small segment of the constituency. The opening of the Wagah border with Pakistan, expected normalisation of people-to-people exchange programmes that could eventually lead to opening up of trade and commerce was expected to open up the economy and create employment opportunities in Gurdaspur, as well. This factor and the perception that BJP-led NDA may again form government, may prove to be crucial to the election outcome.
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Q. You were more or less out of active
politics. Why did you come back? Q. But is it
enough to win elections? A. The BJD had thought that it would be a
cakewalk. But with me in the saddle now the battle is going to be tough for
them. The rank and file of the Congress are getting united to defeat this
dysfunctional alliance. The BJD is scared of me. Q. But opinion polls do not
give you a chance. A. I do not subscribe to poll, but people. Q. You
have been tainted by a number of charges and now all the BJD discards are
joining the Congress and it helps the CM to raise anti-corruption slogan. A.
People cannot be fooled. There are charges about everyone in public life. Are
they proved? Besides what about Naveen Patnaik government. Is it not tainted? In
the last four years farmers have to resort to distress sale, there is no job,
the educated unemployed and government. Employees are very unhappy. So are
teachers. Development work has come to a standstill. So this government would
not only fall the BJD would be driven out. Q. What about charges of family
politics? A. That is baseless. Families are there in every party and even
outside politics. Why is the Congress singled out whereas our party gives maximum
importance to workers? The BJD and the BJP right here are furthering family
politics.
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Constituency Profile:
Bathinda Considered as the traditional stronghold of the Akalis, the constituency, which has a dominant rural character, could produce only one minister, the late Dhana Singh Gulshan, in the Central Government in 1977. In the successive Congress governments at the Centre, the Bathinda parliamentary constituency was never given representation in the Cabinet. Comprising nine Assembly segments, the Akalis have been winning this seat, largely due to the Sikh Panth factor. The candidates belonging to non-Akali parties managed to overcome this factor and got elected as MP five times. The total strength the electorate of this seat is about 12,85,957. For the first time, two main parties have fielded women candidates. While the Congress-CPI alliance has fielded Ms Kushal Bhora, the SAD-BJP alliance has fielded Mrs Paramjit Kaur. The SAD (Amritsar) has fielded Mr Sarbjit Singh, son of one of the assassins of Indira Gandhi. Two Independent candidates, Mr Sham Lal and Mr Bhagwant Singh have also filed their nomination papers. The three main candidates are relatives of former MPs.
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State of Parties:
SAD Chandigarh, April 17 In the past three years, the SAD had not only lost power, but also faced the most “humiliating” moments when its leaders were arrested and put behind bars on corruption charges. Its president, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and his son Sukhbir Singh also had to spend some days in jail. At one stage the impression had gone around the SAD would buckle under pressure. There were some Akali leaders and factions, indirectly enjoying the support of the Congress, who were waiting for the collapse of Mr Badal’s leadership to take over the SAD. The SAD restrengthened when the Congress got embroiled in a controversy. The SAD is now on the path of political recovery. Its leadership is now more confident with Mr Badal joining hands with the Tohra faction. The SAD is, however, yet to overcome some internal and external challenges. In an alliance with the BJP, the party is contesting all 13 seats in the state and has allocated Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur to the BJP. One seat has been given to Mr Naresh Kumar Gujral, son of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. Its top leaders such as Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Capt Kanwaljit Singh and Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal are also in the fray. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the performance of the SAD was poor and it only won
Ferozepore and Tarn Taran seats. The coming elections are vital for Mr Badal.
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State of Parties:
Congress Shimla, April 17 It was the emergence of the HVC on the scene, which spelt doom for the Congress in the 1998 Assembly poll. As arch rival of Mr Virbhadra Singh, Mr Sukh Ram floated the HVC after he was expelled from the party in the wake of the telecom scam. The HVC won only five Assembly seats but ensured the defeat of congress in about a dozen other seats. The Congress polled 43.41 per cent votes, 4 per cent more than the BJP, but managed to win only 31 out of the total 68 seats, as against 29 won by the BJP. Mr Sukh Ram with a tally of five seats played kingmaker by installing Mr P.K. Dhumal as Chief Minister in the wake of a hung Assembly. The support base of the party was further eroded in the 1999 Lok Sabha poll when the HVC entered into an alliance with the BJP. The BJP-HVC combine made a clean sweep of all four seats and the Congress vote share dwindled to 36 per cent. Thus, the merger of the HVC into the Congress has consolidated the position of the party. While most of the estranged leaders have been readmitted to the party, the five rebels who won as Independents against the official party candidates have been made associate members of the Congress Legislature Party. The re-entry of certain leaders was opposed by the Stokes camp, but Mr Virbhadra Singh had his way. Mrs Stokes retaliated by packing the Pradesh Congress Committee by its own loyalists. Mr Virbhadra Singh did not approve of the manner in which the PCC was reconstituted and came out in open against it. The two issues brought the deep-rooted factionalism in the party to the fore. However, the rival camps were trying to work in unison to ensure the win of the party. The Congress ruled the roost for three decades and there was no organised opposition to challenge it in the electoral arena. It did not concede a single Lok Sabha seat until the 1971 election. It was the landmark election of 1977 when the Janata wave demolished the impregnable Congress bastion. It staged an impressive comeback in 1980 winning all the four seats, polling 52.08 per cent votes. Its vote share peaked at 67.58 per cent in 1984 when it rode the sympathy wave in the wake of the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi. In 1989, it lost three of the four seats and secured just 41.97 per cent votes. Again in 1991, it won only two seats, marginally improving its vote share to 46.16 per cent. However, it regained the lost ground to win all four seats in 1996. It was at this point when Mr Sukh Ram floated the HVC. The result was that the Congress lost three out of four seats in 1998 and drew a blank in 1999. The party is banking on the “reunion” of Mr Virbhadra Singh and Mr Sukh Ram to regain the lost ground.
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State of Parties:
BJP Chandigarh, April 17 In 1991, the party had contested the elections alone. While it drew a blank in the Lok Sabha elections, the party was able to win only two Assembly seats. However, within weeks of the elections, one of its MLAs, Mr K.L. Sharma, split the party and joined the Congress. It was left to the veteran BJP leader, Mr Ram Bilas Sharma, to raise the saffron flag single-handedly in the House. Scared of meeting the 1991 fate, the BJP contested the 1996 elections in alliance with Mr Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas
Party (HVP), with good results. However, after the 1998 elections, the equations changed. The Vajpayee government needed the support of three MPs of Mr Om Prakash Chautala. The party also realised that the HVP government had become unpopular, mainly because of its prohibition plank, which had misfired at the implementation stage. In 1999, the party withdrew support from Mr Bansi Lal and helped Mr Chautala become Chief Minister. After reaping rich dividends in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, when the party won all five seats it contested, the state BJP was disillusioned with Mr Chautala, who, its leaders alleged, worked to defeat their candidates in the 2000 Assembly elections. For the next four years, they unwillingly bore the cross of Mr Chautala, who left no opportunity to humiliate the state leaders while professing to be a great fan of Mr Vajpayee. Ultimately the high command had to bow to the wishes of the state leadership and snapped the ties with Mr Chautala. The party decided to say goodbye to the alliance politics in Haryana. The BJP leaders for the record sake say that the party would win all 10 seats in the state. However, in private, they are more candid. They say that their strategy is for the next five years. The ensuing Lok Sabha elections would lay the foundation of the party for the next Assembly elections, due in less than a year. If the party is able to win a good number of Lok Sabha seats on its own, it would be a great help in broadening the base of the party before the next Assembly elections. They also concede that the party is unlikely to form the government in the state in the next Assembly elections. But with its government at the Centre, the party will attract heavyweight leaders from the other parties in the coming years to make a serious effort to form a government in the state after five years. The strategy sounds good in theory. However, so far the party has not been able to attract any heavyweight leaders, barring the former Cooperation Minister, Mr Kartar Singh Bhadana, who has been given the ticket from Dausa in Rajasthan. The Haryana BJP’s hopes to win over leaders like Mr Karan Singh Dalal, Mr Jagjeet Singh Sangwan and Mr Jai Prakash Barwala, all MLAs, have come to naught. All of them have seen their future in the Congress. The party will be put to test on May 10.
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33 criminal candidates in Maharashtra Mumbai, April 17 According to MEW of the 210 candidates, 33 are facing criminal charges. Significantly, a large number of candidates from the mainstream parties are facing numerous criminal cases in different courts. Ten from the National Democratic Alliance and seven from the Congress/NCP alliance had a number of cases pending against them, the NGO’s report said. The cases against the candidates ranged from criminal intimidation with death threats, rioting and arson, attacking a public servant and damaging public property. “The rather high degree of criminality among the contestants from major parties in Maharashtra is alarming. These are not frivolous or politically motivated charges as is often made out by the politicians. In these affidavits, only those cases are required to be reported, wherein a competent authority (such as a court magistrate) has brought charges,” MEW said in its statement. The financial status of the candidates too has come under scrutiny. In all 20 candidates said they had no PAN number, though many declared substantial assets worth several lakh rupees. There were 21 crorepati candidates who disclosed combined movable and immovable assets in excess of Rs 1 crore. 12 percent of all candidates had liabilities to public financial institutions in excess of Rs 5 lakh. Of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, 24 go to the poll on Tuesday while elections to the remaining seats would be held on April 26. Campaigning for these seats come to an end late Sunday afternoon. Candidates contesting elections have been made to disclose such information thanks to a Supreme Court verdict in 2003. NGOs like the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which filed the original public interest petition that sparked off this verdict are analysing the sworn affidavits filed by the candidates and putting the information in the public domain.
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Terror tactics in filthiest town Farrukhabad, April 17 Most cities located on the bank of the river Ganga are filthy. But they have a certain spiritual aura about them that attracts the seekers and the tourists in large numbers. Not Farrukhabad, although the Ramganga and the Kali Nadi also flow through this town. In its present state of decay and chaos, it seems to have little going for it. If you stop, you stop on filth; if you walk, you walk on potholes covered with garbage. There is hardly an inch of space in the entire city that can be called road. The rationing of water and power is a regular feature. As the potato bowl of the country, it has 60 cold storage warehouses. How do they operate without assured power? On diesel-run generators. Without the cold storage facility the potato growers would have been ruined and the crime rate even higher than it is at present. No wonder Dr Zakir Hussain, founder of Jamia and the third President of India, never showed any interest in visiting the place of his birth, Kaimganj, a tehsil of Farrukhabad. His family house is in a state of decay. Suggestions for renovating the dilapidated building and converting it into a Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust are brushed aside by his grandson Salman Khursheed. His current concern is to ensure that his wife Louise Khursheed, who has replaced him as the Congress candidate for the Farrukhabad Lok Sabha seat, does better than he has in electoral politics. Their collective track record is hardly inspiring. However, of the two, most Congress workers are comfortable in dealing with him than with his wife. He is willing to listen. She is not. Middle-level Congressmen are unhappy with her style of functioning. They have to give regular “hisaab” of the expenses to reduce her level of distrust. She is the candidate as well as her own campaign in charge. The common refrain in her camp is “Yeh election itna barhiya utha thaa, magar madam ki wajah say baith jaeyga”. The only time Mr Khursheed won was way back in 1989 when the Congress itself was replaced by the front led by Mr V. P. Singh. Since then, he has lost twice. Mrs Louise Khursheed too has yet to open her account. In 1999 she finished third, behind Mr Chandra Bhushan Singh of the Samajwadi Party and Mr Ram Bakhsh Singh Verma of the BJP. The Samajwadi Party has not changed its candidate, but the BJP has replaced Mr Verma with Mukesh Rajput, to take advantage of the caste equations. The changing of candidates by the saffron party has triggered what has the making of a revolt. Remember Swami Sachchianand Hari Sakshi? Who would? Sakshi Maharaj. That rings a bell. He was with Mr Kalyan Singh when the latter left the BJP. The Lodh leader had even provided a helicopter to Sakshi Maharaj to campaign for Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Samajwadi Party. The bad-mouthing maverick political maharaja had won from Farrukhabad in 1998. He was replaced by Mr Verma in 1999. Sakshi Maharaj had his eyes on the BJP. He thought that the return of Mr Kalyan Singh would get him the saffron ticket. Now he is hopping mad. He has decided to contest as an independent. His goons have already spread out to strike terror. Given the current mood in Farrukhabad, Mrs Khursheed stands a fair chance of winning, in spite of the workers having been marginalised by her. But can she or her Pathan supporters from Kaimganj match the aggression and terror-tactics of Sakshi Maharaj?
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Campaigning, Nafisa style Kolkata, April 17 She suddenly jumps into a running tram car to introduce herself to fellow passengers; she jumps out of the trains after travelling some distance. She again boards a metro train at Tollygune or Jatindas Park stadium to meet her voters. This is how she has been campaigning. There has been no slogan shouting, no hoisting of placards and festoons and no sounding of microphones, no processions. It is something different because the candidate here is Nafisa Ali, a former Miss India-cum-Bollywood actress-cum-swimming champion. But Nafisa prefers to introduce herself as a social worker. Nafisa is the Congress candidate from Kolkata (South) against Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee. The CPM has also put up a formidable candidate there and he is Rabin Dev, the party’s sitting MLA and a prominent state committee member. Nafisa says she does not like to follow the traditional way of campaigning. On the contrary she invented a new style of campaigning she wants to reach the maximum number of people in her constituency. Nafisa has created quite a sensation among the voters in South Kolkata by launching her novel way of campaigning where a large number of Dev’s party comrades and supporters had already intensified their campaigning against Mamata, whom they consider their main contestant. Mamata, however, so far has not found any time for her constituency busy as she is in the campaigning for her party colleagues elsewhere. In the 1999 elections, Mamata won the seat, defeating the CPM candidate, Subhankar Chakraborty, the then Vice-Chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University, by over 2.10 lakh votes. To her workers and supporters this time, Dev is no match for their “didi” and they do not take Nafisa as a serious candidate against Mamata Banerjee. Many people have raised a question: Is Nafisa really serious about her contest? A woman who has never been in politics and who lives in Delhi. Can she be taken seriously as a contestant against either Mamata or Rabin Dev? To many people, Nafisa has been fighting a losing battle. Nafisa, however, does not think so. Nor does Pranab Mukherjee, who has chosen Nafisa as the Congress candidate against Mamata.
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CRY takes up children’s issues with parties New Delhi, April 17 Prof Jean Dreze, economist associated with the “right to food campaign,” says that “The successive governments have not bothered to provide adequate funds for the education and nutrition of millions of children. Even the mid-day meal scheme for school children has not been fully implemented”. He said 60 million Indian children under the age of six years are living below the poverty line, and every second child was malnourished. Almost two million children die each year before reaching their first birthday. The Child Relief and You CRY, an NGO in collaboration with 30 other NGOs and thousands of children across the country, has prepared a children’s manifesto for the first time. It has been submitted to all parties but without much result. Ms Bondana Dutta, Director — North and East, (CRY), says, that “Instead of talking about the rise in the GDP and the foreign exchange reserves, the parties should spell out what they will do about the children of 100 million families that are living without water at home and other amenities.” She said children in over 150 million households were living without electricity. The manifesto demands that “government should earmark at least 10 per cent of the GDP to finance education for children under 18 years, special opportunities for children with disability, and the revision of free and compulsory education Bill to make state governments accountable for their education.” Under the right to survival and health, the manifesto seeks 5 per cent of the GDP for health. It also seeks integrated child development services for the children as per the Supreme Court. The manifesto has also asked the parties to “prohibit all forms of child labour, introduce a legislation to check the sexual abuse of children, and trafficking of children; and ban pre-natal sex determination tests.”
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RJD prospects bright in Vaishali Vaishali, April 17 Mr Nitish Kumar, who was Mr Laloo’s aide until then joined hands with many others to form the Samata Party. He was humbled in his efforts to wrest power from Mr Laloo in the 1995 Assembly elections. He then teamed up with the BJP in 1996 and emerged as a mascot for the upper castes who dislike the Laloo. Ms Sinha, a Bhoomihar, could not have won in this Rajput-dominated constituency and Mr Laloo realised
this. He has left Vaishali to Mr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh ever since. “Whatever happens in the rest of Bihar, Raghuvansh babu will win from here this time too”, says Rajesh Ranjan, who owns a fleet of trucks here. This, however, does not mean that the RJD and Mr Prasad as a candidate are acceptable to the upper castes across Vaishali. There is anger against him. “He is a blot on Rajput pride. How could he accept Laloo Yadav’s leadership?” asks Shambu Srivastava who owns large tracts of land in Lalganj. Mr Munna Shukla, MLA from Lalganj, is contesting as an Independent. He has been to Beur jail on charges. Several villages in the Lalganj Assembly segment fall in his territory. If the number of flags and posters are any indication, he should poll substantially.
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Voting under shadow of gun
Kanker (Chhattisgarh), April 17 The banned outfits such as the People’s War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) are indulging in hit-and-run tactics in the remote areas to create a reign of terror ahead of the Lok Sabha poll. PWG Naxalites triggered twin landmine blasts in Dantewada district, 500 km from Raipur, bordering Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, on Wednesday, killing two policemen on the spot and injuring four seriously. On Tuesday also, four policemen, including three officers, were injured in a landmine blast and heavy exchange of fire by PWG ultras in Bijapur police district under troubled Bastar division. Officials said eight of the 16 districts in the state are affected by Naxalites who sneak into the bordering states after unleashing violence in Chhattisgarh. During a chat with villagers it came to light the Naxalites were active since they were apprehensive that the RSS and its affiliates would wipe them out from the tribal belt.
— PTI
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In Orissa, it is ‘Mr clean’ vs ‘club of corrupt’ Bhubaneswar, April 17 In a state where corruption is rampant, Naveen after four years’ rule has managed to emerge unscathed, although his detractors say that he has been more clever than clean. But the fact remains that in the popular esteem Naveen stands tall and the allegations, including the mining lease scam, courtesy Judeo tapes, fail to stick. On the other hand, PCC chief J. B. Patnaik’s name is synonymous with corruption and crime. Things have not been better for him because of the pre-election move of embracing all BJD discards. J. B. Patnaik has started late as till the last moment the candidates list could not be finalised and alliances could not be forged. So, the campaigning of the Congress is short of star campaigners and has lagged far behind that of BJD-BJP ruling alliance. A number of Congress candidates confide that JB is a liability and his campaign is proving to be counter-productive as people still remember the 15 years of corrupt and crime-infested rule of his. The Congress-led alliance has also shown cracks with the Communists and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha far from happy. They have complained to the AICC against the ‘betrayal’ by JB who fielded official Congress candidates in seats allotted to the allies. As things stand today, a majority of Orissa electorate are willing to give Naveen that chance.
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Muslim voters in a fix Ludhiana, April 17 Various Muslim organisations of the city have called a meeting on April 22 to chalk out a strategy for the elections. The president of the Punjab unit of the Indian Muslim Council, Mr Atiq-u-Rehman, who enjoys considerable influence among the Muslims here, says that it is the individual choice of voters but they could decide collectively.
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Q.
The India Today opinion poll rated you as the second best Chief Minister. How do
you respond to that?
Ambala, April 17
Gurdaspur, April 17
Bathinda, April 17
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