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Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin no issue: Ajit Singh Two senior Cong leaders resign from party Reject Cong and BJP, says Maya
Chautala’s style of dealing with ‘hostile MLAs’ Three-cornered contest
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BJP, SAD candidates file papers Poll meetings on KU
campus draw flak Hooda initiates unity move among factions HVP, BSP nominees declare assets HVP loses recognition Surender Singh files papers from Bhiwani HPCC ex-member joins INLD Bansi Lal confident of son’s victory Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Om Prakash Chautala never cared for the interests of Haryana and believed in dishonest practices. This was stated by the Haryana Vikas Party President and former Chief Minister Bansi Lal while addressing party workers at the Pt Neki Ram Sharma chowk here. Jindal promises to work for all sections 3 observers
arrive WHO lauds Haryana on
health project Writ over delay in Lok Pal appointment High Court Some unidentified armed robbers shot dead a young trader, Vikas, at the Pillukhera grain market in the district in broad daylight today and took away Rs 1,36,000 from him.
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Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin no issue: Ajit Singh Jhajjar, April 20 Talking to the reporters here yesterday Mr Ajit Singh, said that foreign origin of Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi was not an issue. He said that Ms Gandhi could be Prime Minister of the “third front”, of which his party would be a part. The RLD is contesting 28 seats in alliance with the Samajwadi Party of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, including one in Rohtak parliamentary constituency in Haryana for which Mr Bharpoor Singh Jakhar is the candidate. Ajit Singh asserted that the Sangh Parivar never accepted the leadership of Mr Vajpayee. He termed the Bajrang Dal and the VHP as ‘rumour mills of the BJP. On the feel good factor of the BJP, he ruled out any such factor, and raised the issue of the deaths of 21 persons at a free saree distribution function in the constituency of the Prime Minister. He held that feel good might be applicable to those flying in aeroplanes but it had not touched 80 per cent population of the country. The RLD leader predicted the fall of the Chautala government after the Lok Sabha poll, adding that widespread disillusionment was palpable and people were out to throw this government out. On the question of his shifting from one party to another Mr Ajit Singh retorted that even the BJP had been changing alliance partners; At one time it was the HVP then the INLD. He addressed a rally in support of his candidate from Rohtak in the town. |
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Two senior Cong leaders resign from party Gurgaon/Faridabad, April 20 In a joint resignation letter to the Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, copies of which were circulated in
Gurgaon, the two leaders made it clear that the immediate provocation for the “extreme” step was the party ignoring the claims of the Muslim community for nomination for the Faridabad parliamentary constituency. Mr Avtar Singh
Bhadana, who represented the Merut seat in the 13th Lok Sabha and who had earlier won from the Faridabad seat, has been nominated for the seat. He is a native of Faridabad district. The two leaders could not be contacted after they faxed the letter to Ms Gandhi. Their family members and associates did confirm the development but refused to elaborate. They have stated in the letter that the Faridabad parliamentary constituency is the only constituency having 32 per cent of Muslim population, and it had been alloted to leaders of the Muslim community by the Congress in the past. Muslim leaders have contested as the Congress candidate and have won from here. They have stressed that in the previous two general elections, 1.e, 1998 and 1999 when there was a wave against the Congress, the Muslim candidates of the party lost by narrow margins in
comparison to senior Congress leaders. They have alleged that some Congress leaders of the party have ignored the Muslims regarding the Faridabad constituency for their vested interests, betraying the principles of secularism in the process. They have sought to remind the Congress President that in the past senior Congress leaders like late Maulana Abul Kalam Azad,late Rahim Khan and late Abdul Gani Dar, besides them, represented this constituency. The two have been ministers in Haryana several times and also MP from the Faridabad parliamentary constituency. In fact, Mr Tayab Hussain,whose son Mr Zakir Hussain is the Congress MLA from Taoru Assembly in Gurgaon district, was a Cabinet Minister heading Agriculture portfolio in the Ashok
Gehlot-headed Congress government in Rajasthan. He lost in the last Assembly election in Rajasthan. The two are from the Mewat area in Gurgaon,which is dominated by
Meo-Muslims. Both were angling to be Congress nominees from the Faridabad parliamentary constituency. There are about four lakh
Meo-Muslims out of about 15 lakhs voters in the Faridabad constituency. The two leaders have called a panchayat at Nuh in this district on April 21 to take stock of the situation and to chart out the at future course of action. The development comes in the midst of speculations that the ruling INLD in Haryana and the HVP may approach either of them to join their ranks. Although the INLD has announced the name of Mohammad
Illiyas, Minister in the State for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, as its nominee from Faridabad, speculation is rife that the party may drop him if one of the two Congress leaders joins it. The HVP is also understood to be delaying announcing its nominee from the Faridabad seat anticipating such development in the Congress. |
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Reject Cong and BJP, says Maya Faridabad, April 20 Addressing a public meeting at Dasehra grounds here in support of her party’s candidate from the Faridabad seat, Mr Abdul Malik, Ms Mayawati focused the major part of her speech on highlighting the works and the schemes launched in Uttar Pradesh during her tenure as the Chief Minister and in lambasting both Congress and the BJP on various issues. The BSP leader avoided criticism of the ruling INLD and attacked only the Congress and BJP in her 45-minute speech. The party’s candidate from here, Mr Abdul Malik, also addressed the meeting. The BSP has fielded its candidates at all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. BHIWANI: Ms Mayawati, while addressing an election meeting at the Neki Ram Sharma chowk here today, said she would take revenge from the BJP as and when time came and would make every possible effort to defeat the Congress. Appealing to vote for the party candidate from the Bhiwani parliamentary seat, Mr Ramanand Jangra, she said the BSP had learnt from its previous experience and vowed to contest elections on its own. Attacking the BJP, she said the party had falsely implicated her into the Taj Corridor case and even her house was searched. She said the CBI was directed to submit its report within four months in the court but it could not do so which showed that the BJP dethroned her by registering a baseless case. The party’s national general secretary, Mr Narender Kashyap, state president Ramji Lal, party’s candidate from Rohtak Dr Gita Grewal and Bhiwani candidate Ramanand Jangra also addressed the meeting. Mr Jangra later went to mini secretariat with his followers and filed nomination. |
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Chautala’s style of dealing with ‘hostile MLAs’ Chandigarh, April 20 The hostility of Mr Karan Singh Dalal, who has recently joined the Congress, and Mr Krishan Pal Gurjar, leader of the BJP legislators, toward Mr Chautala is well known. Mr Jagjit Singh Sangwan, also a new entrant in the Congress and member of the rules committee, has also earned a name for himself for his vocal protests against Mr Chautala in the assembly. Mr Udai Bhan and Mr Tejveer Singh, Independent MLAs, who have been made members of the rules committee, had withdrawn support to the Chautala-led regime and offered support to the Congress. While the new committee was officially constituted by the Speaker on April 7, Mr Chautala is alleged to have indicated who should be the members. A visibly upset Mr Dalal claimed that he had been made a member of the rules committee because Mr Chautala wanted to stop him from coming to Chandigarh every week to attend assembly committee meetings when he also used to talk to the Press here about the nefarious activities of Mr Chautala and his family members. Mr Udai Bhan, when contacted, said he had been inducted into the rules committee because of his act of aligning with the Congress after withdrawing support to the ruling INLD. An MLA, who too is a member of the rules committee, admitted that it was the "financial aspect" which was bothering him more than anything else. By making the hostile MLAs members of a committee which does not meet, Mr Chautala wants to teach them a lesson, he alleged.
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Three-cornered contest in Ambala Ambala, April 20 The BJP has allotted ticket to its sitting MP, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, for the second time. Mr Kataria has already completed two rounds in all nine Assembly segments of Ambala parliamentary constituency and organised a number of rallies in rural and urban areas. The Congress has nominated former Union Minister, Ms Selja, who belongs to Sirsa. Although she is considered to be close to anti-Bhajan Lal lobby but Bhajan supporters are also actively campaigning for her as Selja is quite close to the Congress supremo, Ms Sonia Gandhi. The ruling INLD has nominated MLA Balwant Singh who has already contested the Lok Sabha election from Ambala in 1996 and had secured around 1.35 lakh votes. At present INLD have its four MLAs in Sadhora, Mulana, Naggal and Naraingarh Assembly segments whereas the BJP has two and Congress one. The division in anti incumbency votes may give advantage to Mr Singh. The HVP has nominated a former state president of the BSP, Mr Aman Kumar, Nagra, who had joined Congress a few months back. Recently he rejoined the HVP when the Congress denied him the ticket. Mr Nagra has contested Lok Sabha elections from Ambala around six times and in 1998 he had won the seat with the support of the INLD. The BSP has given ticket to a new candidate Mr Chander Pal. The BSP has party cadre in Ambala but not sufficient leaders to boost its campaign. In last elections BSP candidate had secured 83,644 votes. The Ekta Shakti candidate, Mr Ranbir Singh
Bhumbak, has been going on a door-to-door campaign. The Akali Dal candidate, Mr Ronak Singh, is contesting the election from this seat for the first time. He is depending on the Sikh votes.
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BJP, SAD candidates file papers Ambala, April 20 Earlier, BJP activists had gathered at Kumari Rukmani Devi hall in Ambala Cantonment. The meeting was addressed by Prof Ganeshi Lal, Mr Shish Pal Bhola, Mr Kirti Prasad Jain, Ms Neeta Khera and others. In his affidavit, Mr Kataria has stated that he has Rs 24,700 cash while his wife Banto Kataria has Rs 15,000 cash in hand. Mr Kataria also owns “a one-kanal plot in Sector 4, Panchkula with a current value of Rs 10 lakh”. Mr Kataria has Rs 16 lakh in fixed deposit, Rs 75000 in saving bank account and Rs 1.20 lakh in IDBI bonds. His wife has Rs 1 lakh in fixed deposits, his son has Rs 1.50 lakh in fixed deposit, an elder daughter has Rs 50,000 fixed deposit while younger daughter has Rs 25,000 in fixed deposit and Rs 25,000 in UTI bonds. Mr Kataria pays a premium of Rs 6000 per annum for a LIC policy. He owns a Toyota Qualis. He also owns 100 gm gold jewellery worth Rs 60,000 and his wife also owns 100 gm of gold jewellery worth Rs 60,000. While Mr Kataria does not own any agricultural land, his son owns 1.75 acre land in Rauanhera in Kaithal district worth Rs 3.5 lakh. Mr Kataria has taken a loan of Rs 3,96,413.
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Poll meetings on KU
campus draw flak Kurukshetra, April 20 Talking to newspersons here today, the state BJP vice-president and former Vice-Chancellor, Dr Sarvdanand Arya, alleged that these election meetings were sponsored by the KU, Vice-Chancellor, Dr A. K. Chawla, who later held a closed-door meeting with Mr Chautala for about two and a half hours. Apprehending Dr Chawla’s active participation in politics, Dr Arya said it was reliably learnt that Dr Chawla would be an INLD candidate in the Haryana Assembly elections for the Jind Assembly constituency. The Kurukshetra University Teachers’ Association (KUTA) president, Dr O.P. Gehlawat, is also against the holding of election meetings and political rallies on the campus. The BJP district propaganda in charge, Mr Fateh Chand Gandhi, in a signed statement released to mediapersons here today, said that the district BJP leaders had alleged that the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar were doing election propaganda in favour of the INLD candidate, Mr Abhey Singh Chautala. A complaint in this connection had been submitted to the KU Chancellor. The Haryana Vikas Party has also alleged that by holding election meetings on the campus here yesterday, the INLD had virtually converted the KU into a party election office and violated the Model Code of Conduct. |
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Hooda initiates unity move among factions Rohtak, April 20 Putting an end to the controversy regarding the selection of candidates for the 10 Lok Sabha seats, he has offered to campaign in all constituencies irrespective of the party factions to which the nominees belong. The Congress high command had a tough time selecting party nominees as the HPCC chief, Mr Bhajan Lal, and Mr Hooda had been pushing the names of their own favourites for different seats. This caused an inordinate delay in the selections. This had created problems for the candidates as they feared that the opposing faction might sabotage their campaign. It is this factor that forced Ms Selja to opt for the Ambala seat instead of Sirsa, which she and her father have represented several times in the past. In a communication sent to all 10 candidates today, Mr Hooda said under the leadership of Ms Sonia Gandhi and the Congress banner the party nominees on all 10 seats had been getting “warm and massive” response from the electorate. He added that he would like to supplement their efforts and should they feel it necessary he would visit their constituencies and campaign for them. He said it was every Congress workers’ duty to work for party nominees. Mr Hooda added that while party leaders could have different opinions they should work as a cohesive unit at the time of elections. In reply to another query he said he would happily campaign for Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of Mr Bhajan Lal, who is contesting the Bhiwani seat should Mr Bishnoi deem it necessary. |
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HVP, BSP nominees declare assets Rewari, April 20 Mr Rao and his wife have together hard cash amounting to Rs 2,41,060. His balance in ICICI bank is Rs 1,85,226. His wife has a balance of Rs 12,344 in Unted Bank and son a balance of about Rs 8,000 in the same bank. He has two LIC policies,towards which he pays about Rs 16,000 as premium. His wife has NSS certificates and PPS, amounting to about Rs 32,000. He owns a Toyota Corolla.He possesses 50 gm of gold, amounting to Rs 29,000. His wife owns 350 gm of gold and 5 kg of silver, amounting to more than Rs 2 lakh. He has made capital investment in highway services worth about Rs 4 lakh. He owns 1.5 acre land in Anandpur village, whose worth is about Rs 9 lakh.
Also, he owns a double-storeyed house in Rewari, whose worth is more than Rs 4 lakh. He has 35 per cent share, worth about Rs 7 lakh, in a petrol pump. He and his wife have taken bank loans the total of which amounts to Rs 10 lakh. The BSP nominee, Mr Rohtash Khattana, has a total balance of Rs 42,000 in two banks in Gurgaon. He owns a Maruti car and Tata Safari. He and his wife have jewellery worth Rs 60,000. He owns an acre of land, a plot and a shop. He has taken a bank loan of about Rs 7 lakh. What may warm the hearts of many is that they have no criminal record. |
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HVP loses recognition Chandigarh, April 20 According to a notification issued for the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana, there are six recognised national-level parties in the state and only one state-level party — the Indian National Lok Dal. The national-level parties include the Congress, the BJP, the CPI (M) and the BSP. Sources, however, said the HVP was a registered political party and it could retain its symbol by making a request to the Election Commission. The HVP candidates for the Lok Sabha poll, however, would have to be proposed by at least 10 persons instead of two, which was the norm for recognised parties, it was learnt. |
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Surender Singh files papers from Bhiwani Chandigarh, April 20 Mr Surender Singh of the HVP, Mr Ramanand of the BSP and Mr Mange Ram Verma of the Samajwadi Labour Party filed their papers from the Bhiwani constituency, while Mr Ram Niwas of the Samajwadi Party, Mr Kawal Singh and Ms Manju, both of the HVP and Mr Randhir Singh, an Independent, filed their nomination papers from Hisar. Ms Geeta of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Mr Ram Phal, Mr Nafe and Mr Jai Pal, all Independents, filed their papers from Rohtak. The others who filed the nominations today included Mr Raghubir Chand from Kurukshetra, Mr Rishi Ram Gupta from Karnal, Mr Jai Kishan from Sonepat, Mr K.P. Singh from Faridabad. Two candidates who filed their papers from the Ambala (SC) constituency were Mr Ratan Lal of the BJP and Mr Raunak Singh of the Haryana Akali Dal. Four other candidates who filed their papers from Mahendergarh were Mr Naresh, Independent, Ms Sudha of the BJP, Mr Dharamvir of the BSP and Mr Alakh Mohan Mathur of the Rashtriya Matrabhumi Party. No nominations were filed from the Sirsa (SC) constituency today. |
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HPCC ex-member joins INLD Kurukshetra, April 20 Mr Kang announced this in the presence of Mr Abhey Singh Chautala, who is contesting from the Kurukshetra constituency and Haryana Transport Minister, Ashok Arora, who is contesting from the Karnal constituency as INLD candidates. Mr Kang said they had left the Congress party due to groupism and inner fighting. Among those who joined the INLD included Mr Jagjeet Singh Marwaha, who fought in 1980 as a congress candidate from Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency, Mr Jaspal Singh Dhillon, who had come from London, Mr Sanjeev Verma, who had come from Canada, Haryana Kisan Congress district president, Maan Singh Baarwa along with some sarpanches. At the gathering, SGPC member Bibi Kartar Kaur announced that she would support Mr Chautala. Former Member of Parliament, Kailasho Saini and Haryana Agriculture Minister, Jaswinder Singh Sandhu were among those who were present on the occasion. |
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Bansi Lal confident of son’s victory Bhiwani, April 20 He said for the first time, sons of three Lals had been pitted in the election and his son, Surender Singh, would win. He charged Bhajan Lal with setting up a liquor factory and spreading corruption during his (Bhajan Lal’s) government, adding that Chautala and his sons were involved in duping the people of Haryana. Later, Surender Singh went to the mini-secretariat and filed his nomination. |
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Jindal promises to work for all sections Kaithal, April 20 Mr Naveen Jindal promised upliftment of scheduled and backward classes. He also promised to solve problems of farmers, employees, unemployed youth and members of business community. Mr O.P. Jindal also addressed the meeting and urged Congress men to vote for his son. He assured all that his son would not fail them. |
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3 observers
arrive Ambala, April 20 The observers can be contacted with any complaint pertaining to elections. Mr
R.S. Goel can be contacted on phone 0171-2556575, Ms Nisha Singh can be contacted on phone 0171-2555301 while Mr Rakesh Puri can be contacted on phone 0171-2550501, regarding any complaints. |
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WHO lauds Haryana on
health project Panchkula, April 20 According to sources, a meeting to review the implementation of the Directly Observed Treatment(DOTS) programme was held at Panipat under the chairmanship of the Health Secretary, Mr Raj Kumar, recently. Besides the WHO Adviser in India, Dr Deepak Gupta, the representatives of the USAID and the Union Health Ministry attended the meeting. At the meeting, the representatives of the international agencies were of the opinion that Haryana had covered all 19 districts under the RNTCP in the “shortest possible time” in India.In fact,the Deputy Director-General(TB) in the Union Health Minister, Dr L.S. Chauhan, in a letter to the Health Department, complimented it for “fastest expansion” saying that the programme was progressing in the “right direction”. The Director-General, Health Services, Dr B.S. Dahiya,while claiming that DOTS setup had been “patient-friendly”, said the department had initiated the computerised monitoring of the TB patients.Under the new system,complete information about the patients would be fed into the computer,which would help in the prompt follow-up treatment of the patients. The Senior Treatment Supervisor (STS) would visit the patients every three months to provide free medicare under DOTS, the State TB and Leprosy Officer, Dr Vijay Garg, said.The department had set up about 5,000 DOTS centres. |
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Writ over delay in Lok Pal appointment Chandigarh, April 20 The court has directed the Chief Secretary to file the reply on behalf of the government by July 2, explaining as to why the government has not appointed Lok Pal even though the President okayed the Bill for the appointment of Lok Pal on January 2, 2003. Taking up the public interest petition filed by Mr Naresh Kadian, President of the People for Animal (PFA), a Division Bench of Mr Chief Justice B.K. Roy and Mr Justice Surya Kant directed the Chief Secretary to show the reason of the delay. In his PIL, Mr Kadian has mentioned that the Om Prakash Chautala government passed the Lok Pal Bill in the Assembly in 2002 and sent it to the Governor who referred the Bill to the President for approval. The President approved the Bill on January 2, 2003. However, the state government failed to appoint the Lok Pal even after more than 15 months of the President's approval, the petitioner said. The case will now come up on July 2. |
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High Court Chandigarh, April 20 In his PIL, the petitioner, Dr B. Singh, has said that the order of the EC asking the Haryana Government to shift Dr Malik as his wife is the nominee of the ruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) for the Sonepat Parliamentary constituency is illegal and arbitrary. He has said that the DGP’s transfer could not have been ordered as his wife had still not filed her nomination for the seat. The Division Bench comprising Mr Chief Justice B.K. Roy and Mr Justice Surya Kant referred the PIL to another Bench for hearing. |
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Trader robbed, killed Jind, April 20 According to reports received here, Vikas was going to his house at around 1 p.m. after withdrawing money from Punjab National Bank when some car-borne armed robbers cornered him. When Vikas resisted their attempts to loot him, they fired shots at him. Vikas received two bullet injuries and succumbed to his injuries on the spot. The robbers took away his cash and fled in their car. Meanwhile, a large number of persons assembled at the Jamni chowk on the Jind-Safidon road near the Pillukhera grain market and blocked traffic on the Jind-Safidon road in protest against the killing of the trader. The angry protesters demanded immediate arrest of the killers of Vikas. |
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