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Judge
by performance, Advani
CM:
Shanta distorting facts on setting up of hospital |
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Congress
ahead of BJP, claims Stokes Minorities
hold the key in Chamba Deteriorating
law and order situation worries Dhumal Chamba
meeting BJP’s flop show, says Mahajan Plea to
postpone poll in Himachal areas Sofat,
50 others re-admitted into BJP
NGO
fears hasty decision on dam may hit villagers Former
HPSSSB member’s house raided Seminar
on fundamental duties held Maruti
dealer told to refund money to customer Governor,
CM greet Muslims 
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Judge by performance, Advani urges voters Bilaspur, May 2 He was addressing a public rally in support of the BJP nominee for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat, Mr Suresh Chandel, here. Mr Advani said he was sure that people would not forget the contribution of the BJP to the development of the country on the day of voting. In his speech, which was bereft of contentious issues such as the Ram temple and the foreign origin of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Mr Advani asked the people to give one more chance to Prime Minster Atal Bihari Vajpayee to complete his “mission” to make India a developed nation by 2020. “If you elect Mr Suresh Chandel, you will also elect a Prime Minister. Don’t miss this 2-in-1 chance,” he urged the voters of the area. He also remarked that the Congress-led opposition had still not declared its prime ministerial candidate. Referring to the various exit polls, which had predicted that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would not be able to secure a simple majority, Mr Advani pointed out that similar exit polls had not given his party too much of a chance in the recent Assembly elections in four states. “We won then and we will win again. The voters know the advantage of having Mr Vajpayee as the Prime Minister. There is a visible wave in favour of Mr Vajpayee,” he said. Mr Advani said the issues – “bijli, pani and sadak” - that helped the party clinch three states in recent elections, will again turn the voters towards his party. “The government of Mr Vajpayee has carried out so much development in the country that we have come to the people to seek votes on the basis of our performance and not anything else. It is a choice between vote-bank politics and politics of development,” he asserted. Mr Advani asserted that it was only due to the confidence that the NDA government enjoyed that separatist elements such as the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and those in the North-East were holding talks with the Centre. “Even the Pakistan President has opened a dialogue with Mr Vapayee’s government. What we have achieved in six years is more than what the Congress achieved in over 40 years,” he asserted. Making stability a poll plank, the Deputy Prime Minister said no other party could provide political stability in the country. “We had six Prime Ministers from 1988 to 1998, but only one in the last six years. And, I am sure that even in the years ahead, we will form the government,” he said. He said Mr Vajpayee had the best chance of returning as Prime Minister again. Incidentally, Congress President Sonia Gandhi is also scheduled to address a rally in the town tomorrow. BJP state unit chief Suresh Bhardwaj, BJP candidate Suresh Chandel, former Himachal Pradesh Health Minister J.P. Nadda also addressed the rally. |
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Advani talks of stability, good governance Nahan, May 2 Addressing his first election rally during his one-day whistle-stop tour of the state he said leaderless Congress was forced to put forward Ms Gandhi’s name after six leaders of the fractured opposition staked claim for the top post. He said that ground reality was that the opposition was in disarray and there was no credible substitute for Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s leadership before the electorate. In the prevailing situation vote for the Congress-led alliance would in effect be vote for political instability and a replay of the 1989-98 era when the country saw six Prime Ministers within a decade. It was the installation of Vajpayee-led NDA regime which provided stability and good governance and also accelerated the pace of development in the country. Mr Advani who skipped the hill state during his “Bharat Uday Yatra” said he made it a point to visit Himachal Pradesh as he had to terminate his yatra at Amritsar as he had to go to Gandhinagar for filing nomination. Comparing the performance of the NDA and the Congress rule he said the fact that even after 50 years of Independence the people were deprived of basic amenities like water, power, schools and health services indicated the Congress had failed the country. The Vajpayee government, in contrast, did much more in this direction during its six years in office. During the Congress rule 11 km of road was built every year on an average whereas today same length was being constructed every day. The economy had started looking up as never before with foreign exchange reserves crossing the dollar 112 billion mark. Even the seemingly intractable problem of terrorism was being handled effectively and a confidence had grown that the government was capable of wiping out the menace, though it would take some time. The manner in which life was returning to normal in large parts of Jammu and Kashmir and the north east provided an unmistakable indication of the direction in which things were moving. He said the people of the country had attained political maturity and they were now comparing the performance of the Vajpayee regime and the successive Congress governments. They discarded the party in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh recently as they felt that it had not done enough on the development front. The NDA Government had drawn up a plan to provide basic amenities like electricity, drinking water, school, medical facility and road connectivity to all the six lakh villages of the country by 2020. It had already made a beginning in this direction and to pursue these goals the Vajpayee-led alliance must be given another term. Earlier, Mr Advani unsheathed a sword with customary flourish to symbolise victory for the party in the elections. The rally was also addressed by Mr Suresh Bhardwaj, the state “BJP chief, Mr H.N. Kashyap, BJP candidate for the Shimla Lok Sabha seat, Dr Radha Raman Shastri, convener of the party’s intellectuals cell and Ms Shyama Sharma, a former minister. |
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Advani promises water, power, schools Nurpur, May 2 Addressing an election rally at Rehan near Nurpur, he said in his six years tenure as Prime Minister, the country had witnessed political and economic stability which had been eluding India, when there were six Prime Ministers during one decade. He said the remarks made by Mrs Gandhi that a good poet could not be a good administrator only reflected her arrogance and conceit. “Today the BJP has assumed the same status and respect that the Congress party commanded after independence when it was a foregone conclusion that Jawaharlal Nehru would be the Prime Minister,” he said. He said in these elections there was no challenge to the post of Prime Minister as Mr
Vajpayee was destined to lead the country for another tenure. Seeking votes in the name of development he said today India commanded great respect in the international community and was a competitor with the leading nations. “It is our mission to make India a fully developed country so that by the year 2020 all the six lakh villages have water, power, school, hospital, roads and irrigation facility,” he stated. BJP candidate Shanta Kumar, former chief minister, P.K. Dhumal and state BJP chief, Suresh Bhardwaj also addressed the gathering. Praising Mr Shanta Kumar for his oratory, Mr Advani placed the former Union Minister on a par with Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mrs Sushma Swaraj and Mr Pramod Mahajan. However, Mr Advani refrained from assuring the people that Mr Shanta Kumar would be inducted in the Union Cabinet. |
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CM: Shanta
distorting facts on setting up of hospital Palampur, May 2 Talking to The Tribune at Baijnath today the Chief Minister said Mr Shanta Kumar was distorting the facts and projecting a wrong picture before the public regarding the setting up of AIIMS. Reacting to the statement of Mr Shanta Kumar, Mr
Virbhadra Singh said, he had written to the Union Health Minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, in this regard and requested her that Rajinder Prasad Medical College, (Tanda) Dharamsala be taken over by the Union Government. He said he had also offered to hand over the entire complex along with building worth Rs 200 crore constructed by the state government. He regretted that Union Government had not responded to his letter and she was favouring to take over Vivekananda Medical College and Research Institute being set up by a private trust headed by Mr Shanta Kumar at Palampur with a view to extending him political benefits. He said the state government had no moral right to recommend the case of a private health institute at the cost of government medical colleges of the state. The Chief Minister said his government had always believed in the overall development of the state and had done a lot for the merged areas particularly Kangra. It had set up a medical college at Tanda and also upgraded the district hospital Dharamsala to Zonal Hospital with all latest health facilities like CT scan. He said Mr Shanta Kumar had remained Chief Minister for two terms and had also served as Union Minister for three years but he had failed to bring any new industry for the state particularly Kangra which was his constituency. Mr
Virbhadra Singh said the expansion of Pathankot - Joginder Nagar railway line and its conversion into broad gauge had been hanging fire for the past 10 years. The Narasimha Rao government at the Centre had given its approval to this project, but Mr Shanta Kumar did not bother to expedite the project when he was Union Minister. He said if the project was cleared it could have boosted the tourism industry and brought prosperity to the region. Likewise there were many other problems, which were ignored by Shanta Kumar. He said his government was committed to provide the neat and clean administration in the state. He said radical changes would be made in the functioning of the government so that transparency could be brought into the day-to-day working of the government. |
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Congress ahead of BJP, claims Stokes Palampur, May 2 Addressing a news conference here this evening, She said the people of the state had not forgotten the misrule of BJP in the state, therefore they were opposing the BJP candidates. Even stalwarts like Shanta Kumar and Maheshwar Singh had been facing the toughest electoral battle of their lives. The public meetings of BJP leaders had failed to attract the crowd not only in Kangra but all over the state. She said common man was fed up with anti people and anti-employee policies of the BJP which had rendered thousands jobless, farmers were not getting good prices for their produce. She quoted the example of sugarcane growers who had been forced to destroy their produce in many parts of the country as they had not received payments from sugar mills for the past four years. Besides, the wheat growers were also the worst hit because the government had failed to enhance the support price of wheat as demanded by the different farmers union in the country. She regretted that the Union Government did not honour the recommendations made by the Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in this regard. Addressing the conference, Major Ved Parkash said, the Congress would win over 200 seats alone and it would form government at the Centre. He said like-minded parties had already stated that they would not allow the NDA to come into power and had expressed their support to the Congress for forming the government. He said he had toured the entire state in past one week and the Congress was much ahead than the BJP. Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister and Mr BBL Butail, Revenue Minister, also addressed the mediapersons. |
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Minorities hold the key in Chamba Chamba, May 2 Though the Congress candidate, Prof Chander Kumar, is pitted against a BJP stalwart Mr Shanta Kumar yet the declining trend in the NDA graph all over the country may change the political scene. In Chamba district, out of five, four Assembly constituencies, viz Bhattiyat, Banikhet, Rajnagar and Chamba are a part of the Kangra Lok Sabha constituency while the Bharmour tribal Assembly segment falls in the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency. The Muslims in Chamba district, roughly numbering about 24,754 (as per census-2001) are spread over the four Assembly constituencies of Bhattiyat, Banikhet, Rajnagar and Chamba, and have been traditional Congress vote bank since Independence. But now it is due to this reason that there is awareness among the Muslims who have alliances with other political parties. The political observers say that the Banikhet Assembly segment has a considerable number of Muslim voters. The most inhabited belts of these Muslims are Diur, Kihar, Bhandal, and Salooni areas. While in the Chamba segment, they are concentrated in Rakh, Jadera, Shillaghrat and Sahoo belts. Baghaigarh, Kurangoo and Jyuni belts in Rajnagar segment and in Bhattiyat they are residing in Sinhuta pockets. The ‘Gujjars’ whose avocation is mainly rearing sheep and milch animals have so far held the belief that no party other than the Congress can do them good. They say that it is the Congress that does not have agenda like Ayodhya. Meanwhile, the BJP was harping on the NDA government’s stability and development under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee while the Congress was cashing in on its one-year performance in the state. |
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Deteriorating law and order situation worries Dhumal Chamba, May 2 Addressing mediapersons here last evening, Prof Dhumal criticised the Congress government for its utter failure in improving the law and order situation despite the fact that the cold-blooded murders and incidents of rape had
often been occurring in the state. Quoting instances of lawlessness, Mr Dhumal said that the Punjab Chief Minister’s kin was murdered in front of the Himachal Chief Minister’s residence in Shimla. A sword clash occurred in Shimla but the assailants had not been nabbed. The BJP’s dharna in protest against the imposition of Emergency in the Vidhan Sabha was lathi-charged on the Ridge at Shimla. Similarly, no action had been taken in the firing episode of Manali. Mr Dhumal said the state Forest Minister’s vehicle was waylaid by hooligans at Nadaun and his family members were dragged from the vehicle and beaten up mercilessly but the ruffians were got released from the police custody at the behest of some ruling people over the telephone. The vehicle of the state Transport Minister was recently stolen; a theft took place in the house of Health Minister. Expressing his astonishment, Mr Dhumal said that a government under whose regime even the legislators and ministers were not safe how a common man could expect his safety and security. The representatives of Panchayati Raj institutions had not been paid their honorarium for the past eight months, medical bills of employees remained unpaid, the contractors had not released their payments except contractors aligned with the Congress, blamed Mr Dhumal. He said 3000 labourers in the Public Works Department and 2000 in Forest Corporation had been retrenched. The daily wage earners had not been given their wages for several months. But on the other hand, the pay and perks of Chief Minister had been increased to Rs 50,000 and of minister to Rs 45,000. Mr Dhumal said the state Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, was misguiding the people of the state by giving false account of providing jobs to 12,000 persons in the government sector and to 80,000 persons in the industrial sector. The BJP-led NDA government’s landmark achievements, stability and the 14 months non-performance of the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh were the main poll plank of the BJP, asserted Mr Dhumal. Earlier addressing a public meeting at Chamba Chowgan, Mr Dhumal said the Congress was taking full advantage of the NDA government’s centrally sponsored schemes like Rs 533 crore Sarv Siksha Abhiyan and other centrally sponsored projects worth crore of rupees undertaken in the state. Former ministers, Mr Kishori Lal and Mr Mohan Lal also highlighted the achievements of the previous BJP rule in the state. |
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Chamba
meeting BJP’s flop show, says Mahajan Chamba,
May 2 The BJP leaders had realised that their defeat was inevitable
and that was why they looked like a confused lot, observed Mr
Mahajan. On the basis of undercurrent in favour of the Congress
candidate, Mr Chander Kumar, Mr Mahajan claimed that the triumph of Mr
Chander Kumar was certain. |
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Plea to postpone poll in Himachal areas Mandi, May 2 Mr Maheshwar Singh himself has been stranded in Keylong for the past three days as the Manali-Keylong road has been buried under a thick layer of snow. He said on telephone that due to the heavy snowfall, it had become virtually impossible to hold elections or to carry on the election campaign as the links with villages had been disrupted. He said in view of these conditions, he had requested the Election Commission to hold the elections in the tribal belts later, as had been done in the past. The BJP election in charge, Mr Jai Ram Thakur, has also made a similar request to the Election Commission. He said that even in Mandi and Kulu districts, higher valleys had been experiencing heavy snowfall over the past three days, disrupting the normal life. Meanwhile, it may take a day or two to shift the BJP candidate from Keylong to Kulu when the helicopter service is resumed after the weather conditions improve. |
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Sofat, 50 others re-admitted into BJP Shimla, May 2 Mr Sofat, a dissident BJP leader who had organised the dissidents under the banner of ‘miter milan’ and contested the last Assembly polls as an independent was expelled from the party along with 48 leaders. The dissidents lead by Mr Sofat had already announced their support to the BJP candidates and were working for them, a BJP release said, the readmission of Mr Sofat, the most vocal dissident leader had cleared the decks for reentry of other ‘miter milan’ leaders before the Lok Sabha polls. The other leaders whose expulsion was revoked included former Solan district BJP president Dr Dharam Chand Guleria, former district general secretary, Arun Mittal and former district office bearers, Ved Prakash, Nand Kishore, Rajinder Singh, Hari Gupta, Ranvir Singh, Ram Chand Thakur, Dr Jai Prakash, Manoj Pandey and Sanjay Parashar.
— PTI |
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CM pays obeisance at Chamunda temple Dharamsala, May 2 Talking to trustees of the temple, Mr Virbhadra Singh said he would ensure that the sanctity of the temple was maintained and pilgrims provided security and care. He said if need be the state government would acquire the land within the temple gates so that the complex was made more beautiful. |
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NGO fears hasty decision on dam
may hit villagers Shimla, May 2 In a joint representation with the local Pagnanan Vikas Samiti addressed to the secretary of the Pollution Control Board, the SANDRAP has pointed out that the people are not being taken into confidence in the matter. Even the mandatory public hearing is not being conducted in right earnest. Every attempt is being made to keep the people to be affected by the project in the dark. Documents were not being supplied in Hindi despite repeated pleas of the local people and non-government organisations. Early this month, an attempt was made to procure a no-objection certificate for villages which were not likely to be affected directly by the project. It feared that with elections round the corner, environment clearance might be accorded without proper assessment of the impact on environment and a management plan. |
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Former HPSSSB member’s house raided Chamba, May 2 According to Mr N.D. Sharma, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Chamba, a team of police officials of the Enforcement Department headed by Mr Ramesh
Jasta, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and Mr Partap Chand, Inspector raided the residence of Mr Vidya Nath but they could not find him. Mr Vidya Nath was allegedly reported to have committed irregularities in the interview lists of lecturers and teachers and had increased marks, disclosed the ASP. The ASP informed that a large-scale bungling had been committed in the recruitment record as per the data downloaded from the computer’s hard disks by the forensic experts of Hyderabad. The Enforcement Department has deputed a special investigating team (SIT), which had intensified manhunt to nab Mr Vidya Nath for further investigation. |
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Seminar on fundamental duties held Dalhousie, May 2 Air Commodore, Mr Ashok Mahajan (retd) in his keynote address said rights that we enjoy through the Constitution come to us only when we perform our duties towards the country. He called upon the students to discuss the issue of voting with their parents and neighbours thereby ensuring that they cast their vote on the election day. Apoorav Saggi, of Dalhousie Public School, Parul Mahajan of Sacred Heart School, Anuj Sharma of Guru Nanak Public School and Tenzir Chenjor of Central School for Tibetans participated in the interaction session. |
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Maruti dealer told to refund money to customer Sundernagar, May 2 The complainant had purchased a car whose left axle was defective. The defect could not be removed and ultimately it had to be replaced but the dealer charged Rs 2,964 for it. The complainant had filed the complaint before the forum alleging that the left axle was replaced within warranty period. So the dealer had charged the amount wrongly and further asked for the compensation. The dealer, in its reply, alleged that the complainant had already completed the mileage ( distance) so the warranty condition did not apply to them. The forum held in its order that the defect was occurred during the warranty period so the dealer was bound to replace the part free of cost and the amount of part was wrongly charged. |
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Governor, CM greet Muslims Shimla, May 2 In his message on the occasion, the Governor said saints, Mahatmas and Prophets may belong to any religion or caste they all have taught the lesson of world peace. He said Prophet Mohammad also followed the same path of brotherhood, love and sacrifice, which is enshrined in his message. He said teachings of the Prophet Mohammad are relevant even today and Milad-un-Nabi is an occasion to follow these teachings. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, in his message, said teachings of Prophet Mohammad are more relevant today to foster the feeling of brotherhood and peace to strengthen the unity and integrity of the country.
— UNI |
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Media centres
set up Shimla, May 2 An official release
here today said Media centre at state headquarter had been set up in
the Mini secretariat here headed by the Deputy Director , Information
and Public Relations while media centres in all 12 districts have been
set up in the district Public Relation Offices with respective
DPRO’s as Officer in charge. — UNI |
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