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Zora Mann, Jagmeet Brar main
players
Gulshan, Bhora bank upon family name
Hooda appears to be the
favourite
DMK-led alliance may win:
survey
KEY CONSTITUENCY—UDHAMPUR
Taleru has lowest number of voters
Pranab stands good chance
FACTORS TO PLAY
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ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Patiala, April 27 A few minutes later, dust-raising convoy of cars and jeeps makes a halt a few yards away from the stage. With garlands in hands, Akali leaders rush towards Mr Parkash Singh Badal, head of the SAD. Slogans like “Badal sahib zindabad’’ rent the air. Badal resists garlands. “Kanoon Mantri Sahib (Mr Arun Jaitley) da swagat karo,” he directs the Akali workers. They rush towards Mr Jaitley, who is busy wiping beads of sweat from his face. Walking unevenly, Badal heads towards the stage. Two Akali workers help him sit on the front edge of the stage. As Mr Badal feels uncomfortable with his legs hanging down from the wooden stage, a trunk type box is arranged on which he rests his feet. Badal looks slimmer. He seems to have lost weight in the recent past, which has been perhaps been the most turbulent and tension-filled period of his five-decade political career. “Eh oh Badal nahi lagda, jo thorhe saal pehlan hunda see,” says an Akali worker, commenting about the former Chief Minister. Harmel Singh makes an announcement: “Hun tuhanu Badal sahib sabondan karange.” Amid slogans of “Badal sahib zindabad”, Badal is helped up the stage. He starts with “Waheguruji ka Khalsa....” and comes straight to his
favourite subject of Congress-bashing, focussing on Congress leaders. In the absence of Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who died a few weeks ago, Mr Badal is the only star campaigner left with the SAD. In fact, he is an untiring campaigner, though he will turn 80 next year. Charges of corruption have obviously dented his image but still he is a most sought after Akali leader not only in Punjab but also in Delhi by his partymen and the BJP. Though he has lost the glow on his face, his tinkling voice is intact. Over the years, he has perfected his oratorical skills. Undoubtedly, he is one of the best political speakers to address the rural gatherings. But in urban areas, he rarely clicks. He sprinkles his speeches with wit and political satire. He uses simple Punjabi words to convey his political messages. “Congress apne bhalwan da nam dasse, sade Vajpayee tan akhare ch kushti nu tiar kharra( Congress should name its wrestler, our Vajpayee is ready for the bout),” says Mr Badal with a lot of pun. That excites people to raise slogans: ‘‘Vajpayee zindabad.’’ “Akali Dal ne Patiala vich vadda Jarnail uttarya hai (the Akali Dal has fielded senior General in Patiala),” says Mr Badal, turning his face towards Capt Kanwaljit Singh, the SAD candidate for local Lok Sabha seat, who gets up with folded hands towards the audience. Badal takes potshots both at Capt Amarinder Singh and Mrs Sonia Gandhi. “Sonia Gandhi nu desh baare kakh nahi patta, oda koi tajaraba hi nahi (Sonia Gandhi does not know anything about the country, she has no experience),” says Mr Badal. He refers to what the SAD-BJP government did for farmers and how all that was taken back by the Capt Amarinder Singh government. “Asi tuhanu sara kuj vapas kardiyange, par tusi sanu jita deo (we would return all to you but you ensure our victory).” Making this request, he folds his hand and moves away from the stage. Along with Mr Jaitley, Mr Badal moves to a small room to have lunch. He accepts what is offered to him but asks repeatedly: “Tindi di sabji thorhi hor deo.” He tastes everything, sending the message that good food continues to be his weakness like good gatherings at election rallies which fire a new spirit in him. After having a few glasses of water, Badal moves to Sanaur to address another rally, the fourth to be addressed in the afternoon. |
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Zora Mann, Jagmeet Brar main
players
Ferozepore, April 27 Mr Mann has won from this constituency in the last two Lok Sabha elections and Mr Jagmeet Brar won from Faridkot. They are headed for a showdown in the this electoral battle. Though they are way ahead of the two other former MPs — Mohan Singh Phallianwala (Bahujan Samaj Party), Dhyan Singh
Mand, (SAD-Amritsar) and rebel Akali leader Inderjit Singh Zira, these three candidates have the potential of turining out to be a spoilsport for any of them. Political calculations here are not being made on which of the two, Mr Mann or Mr Brar, would get more votes but how many would go in the kitty of the three candidates. Simple arithmetic states that the votes polled to Mr Zira and Mr Dhand would directly affect the Akali candidate while those polled by Mr Phallianwala would queer the pitch for the Congress candidate. The number of votes is also being
analysed. It is expected that more than 7 lakh of the total 13.5 lakh voters would exercise their vote. If Mr Phallianwala gets more than 50,000 votes, the situation would not be a pleasant one for Mr Brar. Similarly, if both Dhand and Zira poll the same number of votes they would definitely eat into the account of Mr Mann. Mr Phallianwala had pocketed 1.53 lakh votes the last time, mainly on the basis of Rai Sikh votes. However, a survey of the constituency reveals that political fortunes do not seem to be so good for him this time. A large number of Rai Sikhs are inclined towards the Congress, provided some damage control exercise is done by Mr Phallianwala and Mr Mann soon. Mr Mann can, however, rely on the peasantry. The farmer community takes no time in venting anger at the Congress government for withdrawing the free power and water facility. One farmer, Joga Singh, rued that the government had sent canal water bills to even those farmers who were living too far from the canals to use the facility. Overall, the campaigning this time is nothing compared to the past. While the candidates are busy in their whirlwind tours trying to reach most of the voters, people are not supporting anyone openly like the old days. The voter is keeping his cards close to the chest. Barring a few politically active persons in the villages or towns, the common person is not participating much in nukkad meetings or rallies. One of the reasons cited was that the farmers were busy first in wheat harvesting and now in paddy sowing (albeit very early against the advice of the government and agricultural experts). People associated with trades were also busy. Secondly, the ceiling on expenditure was deterring candidates from saving money on such daily expenditure and may be use them for serving liquor or distributing drugs like poppy husk and opium at the fag end of the campaigning. Some suggest that the voter has become cautious and does not want to be known for aligning with one party owing to the pitfalls of suffering party politics and enmities with his neighbhours later on if his party loses in the elections. |
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Gulshan, Bhora bank upon family name
BATHINDA: The Bathinda (Reserve) parliamentary constituency comprising Bathinda and Mansa districts is witnessing for the first time that the two principal opponents — the
CPI-Congress alliance and SAD-BJP combine — have put up woman candidates.
Ms Paramjit Kaur Gulshan is contesting the election as the SAD-BJP alliance candidate while Ms Kushal Bhora has been trying her luck as the CPI-Congress candidate. Ms Gulshan has the edge over her rivals as far as campaigning in this predominantly rural constituency is concerned. Fed up with the repeated false promises made by the previous candidates on the eve of earlier elections, which were held in quick succession, a large section of the voters has been preferring to keep themselves busy in their routine works. Having nine Assembly segments with the total electoral strength of over 12 lakh, three of the four main contestants have been trying hard to cash in on the family name as their close kin have already represented this seat once or twice instead of unfolding their poll agenda before the electorate. Former Chief Minister and SAD President Parkash Singh Badal has high stake in this constituency as his native village, Badal, is located 28 km from Bathinda. This town, known as the heartland of the Malwa region, is also considered as Mr Badal’s “second home”. Mr Sarbjit Singh, SAD (A) candidate and son of Beant Singh, one of the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has been seeking votes on the sacrifice made by his father for the Sikh “Qaum”. The fact that he originally belonged to Ropar district, a reserved parliamentary constituency, has been going against him. Ms Bhora, who has been seeking votes on the performance of her husband, late MP Bhan Singh Bhora, in the past five years, has also been promising that she would ensure implementation of the Punjab oil refinery project despite stiff opposition by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and local Congress MLA Surinder Singla, apart from resolving other pressing problems of the people. However, she has been facing a peculiar situation. A large section of the Congress rank and file, including MLAs and Chairmen of different organisations, is yet to appear for her campaigning. Besides, Congressmen of Bathinda and Mansa have been feeling demoralised after Mr Jagmeet Brar, MP, Faridkot, who commands a considerable following in these two districts and claimed himself to “Awaj-e-Punjab” allegedly “surrendered” to the Badals and shifted to Ferozepore. Ms Gulshan, daughter of late Dhana Singh Gulshan, who represented this seat twice and remained a union minister as an Akali MP, has managed to take an effective lead over other candidates in campaigning. However, she has also been facing problems on account of deep differences among a section of senior party leaders of Bathinda and Rampura due to ego clashes and funds management. BSP candidate Gurnam Singh, has been banking upon the party’s vote-bank. There are other six candidates in the fray. |
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Hooda appears to be the
favourite
ROHTAK: As the main contestants for the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat muster their forces for the May 10 electoral battle, it is becoming increasingly evident that a close contest is on the cards.
If Congress nominee Bhupinder Singh Hooda has his political future at stake, it is a do-or-die battle for the BJP since Rohtak is its strongest bastion. So far as the Indian National Lok Dal is concerned, it is a personal challenge for Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala, who has been publicly stating repeatedly that he wants to avenge the defeats of his father, the late Mr Devi Lal, from this constituency by ensuring the victory of his nominee, Major-Gen Bhim Singh Suhag (retd). The two woman candidates contesting the poll have their own stakes too. BSP nominee Geeta Grewal is trying to carve a political niche for herself and, in the process, she is embarrassing her estranged father-in-law, Mr Hooda. The Haryana Vikas Party candidate, Mrs Usha Ahlawat, is holding fort hoping that a reasonably good performance in this contest will bolster her chances in the Assembly poll due early next year. Mr Hooda began as the favourite and still remains so but as the D-day approaches he is finding he cannot afford to relax. There are several factors for this. Firstly, by making repeated assertions that he wants his late father’s defeats avenged the Chief Minister has created an impression here that he is contesting this seat by proxy. His relentless campaigning here has upped the antennae of party cadres. This has benefited the former Army General immensely. BJP nominee Abhimanyu Singh, though a late entrant in the fray, has launched a high-profile campaign and made his presence felt in no time. Mr Hooda has so far been concentrating on constituencies other than Rohtak town. However, in view of the sudden BJP onslaught here his wife has begun a door-to-door personal contact campaign. The Congress candidate is telling voters that his victory will help him make a bid for occupying the office of Chief Minister after the next Assembly poll, thus bringing political power to Rohtak for the first time. He claims credit for four-laning of the national highway No 10 and initiating the rail projects. But, there are many like Bani Singh of Meham who feel that his hat-trick of victories here haven’t benefited the area much. Nevertheless, Mr Hooda has succeeded in raising hopes of the people of the area. Besides, his image as a Jat leader outside the Chautala clan who successfully cornered HPCC chief Bhajan Lal are two advantages his opponents are finding hard to counter. Despite the Chief Minister’s personal interest in Major-Gen Suhag’s campaign the anti-incumbency factor is clearly working against the INLD. Besides, General Suhag is a greenhorn in politics. Since he lacks a personal political base, he is much too dependent on the party cadres and second-rung leaders many of whom had been cutting corners till Mr Chautala publicly reprimanded them. The INLD is banking upon the development work carried out in the area. Dr Mahesh Bajaj, a former sarpanch, said voters elected a government for their welfare and the development of the area was there for all to see. “We don’t need rhetoric to ask for votes after all that”, he said. The BJP nominee, also a greenhorn, is moving about in a cavalcade of expensive imported Toyota Land Cruisers which is an indication of his money power. Being young and new to politics, he does not suffer from any incumbency or image problems. His main strengths are the committed party voters and young rural voters who will be voting for the first time. In many areas they have a marked preference for Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister, Mr Ramesh Kumar of Sahlawas said: “We will discuss local issues in the Assembly poll. At this juncture we are electing a Prime Minister and its Vajpayee for us”. Dr Geeta Grewal has adopted an emotional approach to campaigning by projecting herself as the wronged “bahu”. Congress supporters dismiss her as a non-entity but the fact is she is expected to poll more votes than most of them initially expected. This will be a direct loss to Mr Hooda. |
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DMK-led alliance may win:
survey
Chennai, April 27 The survey report stated that the DPA was poised to win 35 of the 40 parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu and in the union territory of Pondicherry. The report revealed that 62.1 per cent of the respondents supported the DPA while 31.7 per cent preferred the AIADMK-BJP combine. The survey found that the DPA enjoyed greater support among the religious minority with 67.9 per cent Christians and 77.3 per cent Muslims preferring the DMK-led alliance. The survey was conducted in all 40 parliamentary constituencies (39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Pondicherry) between April 13 and 23 and around 5,400 respondents were interviewed. About 150 persons were interviewed in each constituency of the state while around 200 respondents were questioned in each of the state capital’s three Lok Sabha constituencies. The report stated that 58.1 per cent respondents in Tamil Nadu felt that a Congress-led combine would form the next government at the Centre while only 35 per cent predicted it would be the BJP-led NDA Government. |
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KEY CONSTITUENCY—UDHAMPUR
UDHAMPUR: With the polling for this Lok Sabha seat due on May 10, Congress candidate, Lal Singh, Health Minister of the state, has raised the son-of-the-soil slogan against Mr Chaman Lal Gupta, BJP nominee and the Minister of State for Defence.
The main contest here appears to be between the two Lals, Mr Lal Singh and Mr Chaman Lal. The contest has become prestigious with Mr Bhim Singh, chairman of the Panthers Party, a partner in the Mufti-led coalition government, jumping into the fray against Mr Lal Singh. The National Conference has fielded Mr Khalid Najeeb Surawardh who lost the Assembly elections from Doda in 2002. The constituency comprises the three districts of Udhampur, Kathua and Doda. While Mr Lal Singh, Mr Bhim Singh and Mr.Surawardhy belong to the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, Mr Gupta is being considered as an outsider as he belongs to Jammu. However, the slogan has failed to work against him as he has won three consecutive elections from here. With Mr Lal Singh in the fray, it will not be smooth sailing for Mr Gupta this time. However, the BJP was banking on Congress votes that Mr Bhim Singh would cut into. There are hardly any signs of electioneering here as almost all candidates were first concentrating in the rural areas. No election posters and flags of any contesting party are visible in the lanes of the town. Normal activity is going on in the other towns of Kishtwar, Doda, Kud and Batote and it does not look as if elections are there. The National Conference has pockets of influence in Doda district where it won two of the six Assembly seats. The Congress has the advantage as two independent MLAs, including Mr Abdul Majid, Minister of State, were supporting Mr Lal Singh. In a bid to counter the propaganda against him, Mr Gupta has brought out a 98-page booklet containing details of the works carried out by him between 1996 to March, 2004. The BJP has accused the Congress of having launched a misinformation campaign against Mr Gupta. The booklet points out that besides accomplishing about 1,400 public utility works in the constituency, Mr Gupta got approval for raising six battalions of the Territorial Army, established the Army cantonment at Bhaderwah, set up central and army schools in remote areas, got 17,000 youths recruited in the Army besides 20,000 SPOs. It points out that besides other things, Mr.Gupta spent out of his MPLAD funds, Rs 5.15 crore in Kathua, Rs 5.10 crore in Udhampur, Rs 3.65 crore in Doda and Rs 2.20 crore on construction of school buildings. Mr Bhim Singh, its two ministers and two legislators, are extensively touring the constituency to campaign for the former. However, none of them came out to campaign for the candidates that Mr Bhim Singh had fielded against the nominees of the coalition in other constituencies. The Panthers Party had won three of the five Assembly seats in Udhampur district in 2002. Electioneering is expected to pick up following the visit of Mr L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minister, here on April 30. Certain other senior BJP and Congress leaders are also expected to come here. NC leaders, Dr Farooq Abdullah and Mr Omar Abdullah are also expected to concentrate here as they would be free from other constituencies by that time. |
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Taleru has lowest number of voters
Chamba, April 27 According to district election officer, Rahul Anand, out of a total of 2.89 lakh voters, 2.29 lakh voters had been provided with the cards. The remaining voters could produce their PAN card, driving licence, ration card and other identification evidence as prescribed by the Election Commission. About 2,300 poll officials, trained in the operation of electronic voting machines, had been deployed to conduct the poll along with about 1,500 security personnel. He said Taleru polling station in the Banikhet assembly segment had the lowest number of 22 voters in Himachal. There were 502 polling stations in the district, out of which 398 fell in the assembly segments of Bhattiyat, Banikhet, Rajnagar and Chamba. |
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Pranab stands good chance
Kolkata, April 27 AICC stalwart Pranab Mukherjee, who is also Bengal Congress chief, was initially reluctant to contest again from the CPM-controlled West Bengal which is his home state also. He has experienced a defeat in 1977 from Malda and then from his home district town of Bolpur in 1980. Though the CPM has been trying hard to retain the seat for the third time since 1996, there are some real hopes for Pranab Mukherjee. Firstly, Adhir Chowdhury has come out in full form to ensure his victory. Secondly, the Trinamool Congress had withdrawn Madan Mitra, a trade union leader and instead put Shis Mohammed, an expelled RSP activist considered an outsider, which will ensure TMC votes in favour of Mukherjee. Thirdly, sitting CPM MP Abul Hasnat Khan has been facing opposition from within the party and the local RSP which he has antagonised on several matters. A large section of the Muslims will vote against him for his failure to protect them against caste Hindus, particularly BJP workers and supporters. The Jangipur people are also aggrieved that neither the state government nor the Centre had done hardly anything for protecting the town from the erosion of the Ganga during these long tenure in power Jangipur was a Congress seat with Lutful Haque as MP since 1962. However, in 1980, Jangipur went to the CPM with Jainal Abedin winning the election. For the next three consecutive elections, Abedin held the seat under his control and in 1996, the Congress again wrested it from the CPM. However, in the two subsequent elections in 1998 and 1999, the CPM returned with the winning of Abul Hasnat Khan as MP. He is again contesting from the same seat against the Congress stalwart. The poor rural people in the district, mostly the Muslims, were traditionally Congress supporters. But later they had voted for the CPM due to the ruling Left Front government’s pro-Muslim policies. The people of Jangipur in general are glad that a Congress high-profile candidate like Pranab Mukherjee has come to represent them in the Lok Sabha. ‘‘We are against the BJP as it is against the Muslims. We also do not have much trust in the ruling CPM which we have tested,” says Jangipur Khilayet Committee leader Arif Amanullah, who controls the majority of the Muslim population in the sub-division. In this election, the TMC initially selected Madan Mitra, a trade union leader as their candidate. But Mitra withdrew in favour of Mukherjee. Now, the party has fielded a dummy — party outsider, Shis Mohammed against Mukherjee for ensuring Mukherjee’s victory. The Congress has calculated if the Congress and TMC votes are polled in favour of Mukherjee, his victory would be certain. |
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FACTORS TO PLAY
Yamunanagar, April 27 For the crushing season of 2002-03, on an average a grower feeding the Yamunanagar, Naraingarh and Bhadson sugar mills got about Rs 17 less than the state advisory price(SAP) of Rs 106 per quintal. These mills went to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which ordered them to pay the statutory minimum price(SMP) to the growers. The difference between the SMP and the SAP was to be paid by the mills if ordered to do so by the Supreme Court along with interest. The case is still pending in the apex court. Armed with the court order, the mills did not pay the SAP to the growers for the crushing season of 2003-04 also. It is estimated that the mills have to pay about Rs 100 crore to the growers. This problem is being faced by the growers whose crop was bonded to the private mills only because the cooperative sugar mills paid the SAP after the state government supported them financially. The crushing has come to an end for this season. Mr Ramesh Kumar of Teha village said the SAP fixed before the 2000 Assembly elections had not been revised since then. The state government failed to persuade the private mills to pay the SAP to the growers. This, he said, had resulted in the dual pricing of the cane in one state. Mr Samer Chand of Harnaul village said initially Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala had threatened to take over the mills if they did not pay the SAP to the growers. Mr Chautala, however, did not implement his threat. Though the sugar prices have gone up by about Rs 300 per quintal this year and are highly remunerative to the mills, the farmers continued to get the SMP, which was increased by the Centre by just Rs 3 per quintal. Politicians are aware of the seething anger among the canegrowers of the area. Mr Chautala again revived his threat to take over the mills after the Lok Sabha elections were announced. A former Haryana BJP President, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, who is contesting from Ambala, says his party was able to persuade the Centre to announce a Rs 88-crore package for the cane growers in Haryana. But Mr Chautala rejected it by saying why the government should bear the burden while the profit would be made by the private sector. Mr Kataria says while rejecting the package, Mr Chautala forgot that his Cabinet, in an unprecedented move, had stood guarantee for a loan extended by the Haryana State Industries Development Corporation to the Naraingarh mill. Wondering whether Mr Chautala had a special interest in the mill, Mr Kataria promises that after the elections, he would get the Central package for the growers even if a special law had to be enacted for direct disbursement of the Central funds to them. Normally the Central funds are disbursed to the beneficiaries through the state government. Mr Kataria’s rival from Ambala, Ms Selja of the Congress, counters by questioning why the BJP leader was promising the special law now. Nothing had prevented him from persuading the Centre to enact such a law during the term of the 13th Lok Sabha. |
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ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Though Jangipur has been the bastion of the CPM since 1977, the Congress under the leadership of Mr Adhir Chowdhury, intruded into the Marxist domain after the 1987 Assembly elections. In the last panchayat elections, the Congress had captured the zila Parisad by winning 10 of the 16 seats. This has been the cause of worry and anger to the CPM and other front partners.