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Sambhal: security forces on alert Sachin Pilot comfortably placed in Dausa Crime, graft are issues Will Simranjit
win again? Factors at Play Test for ordinary workers Dalits key factor in Faridkot Lookalikes of celebrities in demand A holy touch to campaigning CPM eyes Kolkata Cong expels Chiranji Lal Sharma, son Left parties to back Cong In graphics
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Sambhal: security forces on alert SAMBHAL: The security forces are keeping their fingers crossed. Sambhal has been placed among the most sensitive Lok Sabha constituencies of western UP. The paramilitary forces are hoping that Ghazipur will not be repeated on May 10. Yes, Mr D. P. Yadav is contesting as an independent. When elections were announced he was welcomed and then thrown out by the BJP in double quick time because of the political stink the move created. But his presence is just one of the factors that has made the security agencies nervous. The real source of the tension can be traced to the family of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Samajwadi Party chief’s faith in conducting fair elections is as genuine as that of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav. In 1998 and 1999 Mr Mulayam Singh himself had contested from Sambhal. That was the period when he took pride in being referred to as Maulana Mulayam. He must have sensed the change in the mood of the pre-dominantly Muslim constituency fairly early. That is, perhaps, why he decided to play it safe. This time he has moved to his home base in Mainpuri. The Sambhal seat has been given to his brother, Mr Ram Gopal Yadav. He was a college lecturer before he was encouraged to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He gave himself the Professor tag apparently to impress the largely unlettered voters of the constituency. But the villagers are not sure whether Prof Yadav will win. They do not say it in so many words, but drop broads enough hints. As one semi-literate youth put it, “Cigarette smoking and loud political discussions are supposed to be injurious to our health”. On our way to Sambhal we stopped at a Dalit hamlet. The octogenarian head of the family, Bhure Singh, gave us a sweet smile and feigned ignorance about the elections. They belonged to the Prajapati community. His son, Jagdish, was equally reticent. “Humnay to sunna hai ki cycle ko vote mileyga” was all we could get out of them. They had no complaints worth talking about. Just when we were about to take leave Bhure Singh mentioned in a very casual tone, “haan diesel aur khad manhga ho gaya hai”. He had said nothing against the Samajwadi Party or the state government. He had merely stated the fact. The unstated message was loud and clear. A few kilometres down the same bumpy road we stopped this time at what looked like a Muslim basti. The same sweet smile greeted us. A senior member of the group mentioned a nasty incident that had taken place in the next village three days ago. Some Samajwadi workers approached a Muslim recluse for his support. He told them bluntly he believed that “haathi” stood a better chance of winning. The Samajwadi workers hit him so hard that he died. All cycle banners and posters were removed and destroyed by irate villagers. “Ab kya pata iska chunav par kya asar pareyga”. However, the popular view in the constituency is that if there is no violence or forced voting or rigging, Mrs Tarannum Aqeel of the Bahujan Samaj Party appears to have the edge. Why? Because Mr Ashok Yadav has been fielded by the Congress and a three-way split of the Yadav vote would help her. The Muslim recluse paid with his life for saying the same thing.
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Sachin Pilot comfortably placed in Dausa Dausa (Rajasthan), May 4 Sachin seems to be enjoying the edge. This is partly because he has inherited the legacy of his father and a stalwart Congress leader, the later Mr Rajesh Pilot. His other major plus point is that he is a young emerging leader with a clean slate. The electoral history of Dausa also favours Sachin as of the 16 Lok Sabha elections, including three byelections held in this constituency, the Congress has won 12 times. The BJP is not in a strong position despite the fact that it won four of the eight Assembly seats from Dausa. Sachin told The Tribune that throughout his campaign he has focused only on one theme: development. “I have been talking about development of the weaker sections, youth and farmers. I have been stressing on greater transparency and accountability”, he told The Tribune. About his BJP rival, Sachin Pilot said Bhadana was “a rank outsider” who “ran away” from the BJP and embraced the INLD in an opportunistic marriage of convenience. On the other hand, Bhadana has unleashed a highly aggressive campaign. He has repeatedly said in his election meetings that the annual fund of Rs 2 crore under the MPLAD Scheme (which is tipped to be increased to Rs 5 crore) is not even enough to offer a cup of tea to the electorate. Bhadana has sought to drive one point home in every election meeting: that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has promised to make him a minister at the Centre and once he becomes a union minister, he would rope in big business houses in local development in a big way. “I will tell these big industrialists and business houses that I will help them as a union minister only if each one of them adopts some villages of Dausa and make these model villages”, he says. Bhadana also does not forget to add that the Congress was in no position to form a government at the Centre and Dausa’s all-round development would be ensured only when the BJP-led NDA coalition forms a government at the Centre, an argument which finds lots of takers here. INLD supremo and Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala has pitched in aggressively for party nominee Rohitashv. Chautala is relentlessly pursuing a one-point agenda here that Bhadana should not be allowed to win at any cost. Bhadana used to be his minister till some time ago but the two fell apart. Rohitashv’s campaign is based totally on the sympathy factor. He has aimed at the voters’ hearts in his tearjerking campaign. He is able to strike a chord among the voters when he tells them at virtually every second election meeting that they have already defeated him thrice. “If I am defeated for the fourth time, I will die”, he tells the people. The high-voltage campaign notwithstanding, the BJP’s “foreigner” card in the national campaign seems to have boomeranged locally with Bhadana being widely perceived as “a foreigner imported from Haryana”.
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Jyotiraditya has the edge in Guna Guna (M.P.), May 4 Earlier, a simple appeal from the palace was enough for the people to vote for the Scindia representatives but today the young Scindia is made to earn his vote. No doubt, Scindia junior is attracting huge crowds wherever he is campaigning but the typical scene of people bowing and touching the feet of the Prince is missing. You can hardly find anyone here, who would predict the defeat of Scindia junior but there will be a drastic reduction in the victory margin of Jyotiraditya. Jyotiraditya, who created a record of sorts by winning the Guna Lok Sabha byelection 22 months ago with a margin of over four lakh votes, appears to be little jittery this time with the Congress getting a drubbing in the recent Assembly poll. This contest has forced even Jyotiraditya’s mother Rani Madhviraje, and his wife, Priyadarshiniraje, to campaign for him. With Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee urging the people to vote for development, Scindia junior could be seen going from village to village and telling people about various developmental works he had undertaken during his two-year tenure as an MP. He reels out the list of developmental works like construction of water tanks, setting up of electricity sub-stations and construction of school buildings undertaken with the funds released by him under the MPLAD scheme. Meanwhile, BJP nominee Hari Ballabh Shukla, a former Congress MLA and well-known for his anti-Mahal politics, is going round the constituency questioning the contribution of the Scindia family for the development of the region and urging the people to vote for development. He also tells them that their vote is not for him but to strengthen the hands of Mr Vajpayee at the Centre.
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Campaign Trail Dharamsala, May 4 Having been in the saddle for more than 12 years during different tenures, he is single-handedly holding the reins of the party campaign. The fact that his better half Pratibha Singh is contesting the Lok Sabha election, does not confine him to the Mandi segment as he tries to give equal attention to all four constituencies. Starting his day at the crack of dawn, on an average, he addresses at least five big election meetings daily apart from a dozen unscheduled roadside meetings. Despite having arrived at the local Circuit House here at 10 last night, it was only at 2 am that he slept after clearing official files, a daily exercise for him even during hectic electioneering. Up at 5 am, he starts interacting with party workers at 7 am and addresses a press conference an hour later. Accompanied by the Congress nominee from Kangra, Mr Chander Kumar, he is off in his Scorpio to address a meeting at Sulah, the home constituency of BJP candidate Shanta Kumar. On the way, he stops at the Chamunda temple to pay obeisance. “Since she has taken a plunge into politics, she has to be on her own and is running her campaign with only my occasional visits,” he says in reply to a question if his wife being in the electoral fray weighs on his mind. The Congress is heavily banking on the wide mass base he enjoys all over the state. As he is welcomed by slogans like “Raja nahin fakir hai, Himachal ki takdir hai” at Sulah, he lauds the people of the area for their political wisdom as they gave Mr Shanta Kumar a taste of defeat on two occasions. “All that the BJP has given you is false promises, corruption and misrule so you must vote them out of power in the Centre as you did in Himachal,” he appeals. His star campaigner status is not without precipitous moments as in Rajgir he tries to take everyone with fragile egos and frayed tempers together. Even if there is factionalism within the party at the local level, he successfully coaxes workers to sink their differences in the party interest. Despite having undergone a heart bypass surgery, he does not miss out the opportunity to relish the rich local delicacies as he stops for a late lunch, mostly after 4 pm. After addressing the fourth meeting at Baijnath, he goes straight to the rest house but calls it a day only after meeting workers and discussing the strategy for the next day well past midnight.
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Crime, graft are issues Sonepat, May 4 What concerns them is the image and caste of the candidate, development work, unemployment, corruption, VAT and breakdown of law and order. The BJP’s poll planks “India shining” and “feel good” factor are alien concepts for most of the electorate here. So much so, they don’t even know their meaning. Even the Sonia Gandhi road show held in this constituency in February, which attracted a huge crowd, does not seems to be influencing the electorate in Congress’ favour. In 1999, the main factors that contributed to Chautala’s victory were that he was the son of farmer leader Devi Lal and the Vajpayee wave. That’s why INLD and BJP alliance won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats and helped Chautala sweep the Assembly elections. But this time, the anti-incumbency factor is working against the Chautala government, which will favour Sangwan. The voters here swing for the stronger of the Jat leaders. To overcome the anti-incumbency factor, Chautala has been appealing to the voters in every rally that he addresses: “Tum voter machine ka button dabakar mere se badla na lena. Agar kisi baat se narazgee hai to main abhi ek saal tak aur CM hoon, aap ke jo bhi kaam baaki hain ho jayenge or jo bhi narazgee hai door kar di jayegee.” Reacting to Chautala’s appeal, the BJP and Congress are asking the people: “Agar ab badla nahin loge, to kab loge?” “This time, the INLD has no issue for the people. Farmers have been suffering a lot following hikes in the prices of diesel, kerosene and urea. Chautala had failed to provide us free electricity and water as promised by him. He is also responsible for the death of the farmers who are agitating against the government policies in Kandela,” says a farmer, Mr Suresh Sangwan, from the Gohana Assembly segment. “Life is not safe here, as every other day the district is witnessing murder and dacoity. The crime rate has gone up and extortion culture is prevailing. How can anyone expect to be safe here? Moreover, only the businessmen of Haryana have to pay VAT,” says a businessman, Mr Surinder Singh, hailing from Sonepat district. “There is resentment among the people because of the rising corruption levels in government departments and the failure of the government to solve the unemployment problem and its retrenchment policy,” says Mr Naresh Chowdhary, a resident of Sonepat district.
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Will Simranjit win again? This question assumes importance in view of the fact that except for once, the Sangrur Parliamentary constituency has always witnessed a new MP since 1962 in every Lok Sabha election. Mr Surjit Singh Barnala is the only exception who won from this constituency two times consecutively — in the 1996 and 1998 elections. In 1996, Mr Surjit Singh Barnala of the SAD defeated Mr Simranjit Singh Mann of the Akali Dal (Amritsar) by 75,652 votes. In the 1998 Parliamentary elections, Mr Barnala again defeated Mr Mann by 82,165 votes. But in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Mr Simranjit Singh Mann trounced Mr Barnala by 86,317 votes. Mr Mann as MP has served the constituency in a big way. He broadened his mass base in all Assembly segments and distributed grants of more than Rs 12.50 crore from his MP Local Area Development Fund. But despite this, Mr Mann is facing a tough contest from Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, SAD candidate, and Mr Arvind Khanna, Congress candidate. Mr Khanna has made this contest tougher with his management skills, besides his contribution to society in rural areas in the field of healthcare through his “Umeed Khanna Foundation”.
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Factors at Play Ladakh (Leh/Kargil), May 4 The sense of cultural identity is so palpable that developmental issues are invariably ignored in the favour of UT status for Ladakh. The irony of the situation is that all four contesting candidates for the 14th Lok Sabha elections on May 10 have their own perceptions about Ladakh’s political future. Where Ladakh Union Territory Front
(LUTF) candidate Thupstan Chhewang from Leh is campaigning with UT status for Ladakh as the main issue, BJP’s Sonam Paljor is advocating autonomous regional councils for the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. In Kargil, the Muslim candidates hardly support the notion of Ladakh as a separate region from J&K. Sitting MP Ghulam Hassan Khan from the National Conference (NC) is all for the unity of regions within Jammu and Kashmir, while Independent Wazir Ali seeks more powers for the Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council. With four diverse ideas floating from different directions, voters of the region are bound to be confused over what would suit them best. But one point is clear — both Buddhists and Muslims seek greater powers for their respective communities. Development is an issue with them, but no greater than
self-actualisation. So even while Ladakh’s markets await clearance of the Srinagar-Leh highway to store basic necessities like salt, rice and vegetables for another year, an average Ladakhi is busy finding ways of self-assurance. Most of them, especially Buddhists of Leh, feel that development is a natural corollary of UT status to Ladakh. And they have their own reasons to feel so. Buddhists of the region are extremely insecure and vulnerable at this point. Deep inside, they fear diffusion of the race at the hands of Muslims. Over the recent past, there have been countless cases of Buddhist girls defying norms to marry Muslims boys. Heads of most Buddhist organisations in Ladakh view the trend as the National Conference’s deliberate ploy to threaten the Buddhist community and its future. It is also to counter the threat to ethnic identity that the Buddhists in Ladakh want a UT. Thupstan
Chhewang, the consensus candidate of Ladakhi Buddhists has the full support of the Ladakh Buddhist Association
(LBA), whose acting president Angchok Tsao admitted to The Tribune that the NC government had always extended a step-motherly treatment to Ladakh. “They instigate Muslim boys to lure our girls into marriage. If our boys marry Muslim girls, they raise a hue and cry. This means they are not looking for communal harmony. They only want to dominate Ladakh. But we will fight them with democracy as our weapon.” Muslims, in turn, want to secure themselves in the peculiar social scenario of Ladakh, whose tourist-dollar fuelled prosperity has everything to do with the summer presence of the Dalai Lama. They often feel marginalised in Ladakh. Even the famous Sindhu Darshan festival held in Ladakh every June became a centre of controversy when artistes from the Muslim-dominated regions of J&K were excluded from the schedule. Given the conditions, it is to be seen how Muslims of Kargil retain their traditional vote bank, especially when the NC in Kargil faces stiff competition from one of its own former leaders, Wazir Ali.
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Test for ordinary workers Sirsa, May 4 First, it was Ms Selja, Congress leader and former Union Minister, who filed her nomination papers from Ambala. This despite Sirsa being a traditional constituency for her and her father Dalbir Singh who had represented this constituency on four occasions. What prompted Selja to leave Sirsa is stated to be fear of defeat by Mr Bhajan Lal, HPCC chief, who has a considerable clout in the Sirsa Lok Sabha segments falling in Fatehabad district. Selja had tasted defeat in the 1998 elections, allegedly due to opposition by the Bhajan Lal camp. So shaken was she by the defeat that she did not contest the 1999 elections, allegedly. Next came the announcement that Mr Abhay Chautala, son of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, would be the INLD candidate from Kurukshetra. Though Abhay himself has never fought from the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat, it being a reserved constituency, he supervises electioneering in this constituency which includes the native district of the Chautala clan. Abhay Chautala’s own Assembly constituency, Rori, falls in Sirsa. A large number of Sirsa workers loyal to Abhay have accompanied him to Kurukshetra. “Half of our important workers have gone to Kurukshetra to campaign for Abhay and the remaining half have gone to Bhiwani to campaign for Ajay Chautala. But in this constituency, even ordinary workers like us can ensure the victory of the INLD candidate, Mr Sushil Indora”, said Iqbal Singh, an INLD panchayat member from Abubshahar. Ram Pratap, an INLD worker from the same area, said, “This election is a test for the ordinary workers and we are trying our best to rise to the occasion”. Winning the seat , however, is a prestige issue for the Chautalas. They are not leaving everything to the ordinary workers. Abhay Chautala visited the constituency for two days last week, campaigning for Mr Indora. The Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, is slated to come here on May 8 and stay here till the day of polling on May 10. From the Congress camp, too, a lot of workers loyal to Selja have moved to the Ambala. They include Mr K. V. Singh, former HPCC vice-president, and Mr Subhash Bansal, president of the Sirsa DCC. Mr Jagdish Nehra, former Congress minister, is in fact the only prominent Congress leader who is campaigning here for the party candidate, Mr Atma Singh Gill. But he too has been going to Ambala a little too often.
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Dalits key factor in Faridkot Faridkot, May 4 Rendered jobless since the field work has virtually been taken up by the machines as well as migrants, the Dalits, most of whom are traditional farm labourers, are confronting the candidates for the lack of job opportunities faced by them and have made this an important election issue. The rural Dalits, who had been dependent on agriculture for their bread and butter for centuries, are now telling candidates that they should either get them their jobs back or find alternative avenues for them. The candidates, however, feel that they are in a tight spot, as they have no solution to their problem. In this world of cut-throat competition, the Dalits, who form a substantial vote bank, are being fast replaced with labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who are ready to work for Rs 50 a day and even less in some interior villages. Unable to cope up with the problem, the Dalits are now promising votes to candidates only if they provide a solution to their problem. “I will favour the candidate who creates job avenues for my children. My countless generations have spent their lives working in the fields of farmers. Now I have been rendered jobless as the farmers are employing migrant labourers since they agree to work for half the remuneration than us. We are not saying that they should be thrown out but we should be given our due,” said Mr Gurmel Singh, a Majhbi Sikh of Cheeda village in this parliamentary constituency. They claim that this issue had been staring in the face of sociologists as well as politicians alike for the past many years, but they had been postponing addressing it. They claimed that it would snowball into a major controversy if attention was not paid to it immediately. “Over the years, the jobs of ironsmiths, carpenters and cobblers in countryside became obsolete and those who felt the heat started working as field labourers. While their number increased, their demand in their own land decreased. We can’t run our families on meagre Rs 50 a day. The migrants can even sleep on footpaths. They can do with this much money,” said Mr Malkit Singh, a Dalit of Sukhanand village. He added that they were living in penury for the past many years. The condition was so bad that they did not even have electricity connection in their house as they were not able to deposit money for the meter. “This is the condition in a Punjab village where at least 30 houses of Dalits are powerless. We have never switched on a light or installed a television set in our house.” Moreover, the problem of dope, given to them by ‘jimindars’ was taking a toll on their pockets as well as health. “My husband never used to take anything except tobacco. The farmers, in whose fields they were working, used to add poppy husk into their tea so that their efficiency would increase. Now he has become an addict and requires Rs 800 to Rs 900 per month to buy poppy husk. There are no means of livelihood but the poppy husk has become a necessity for him,” said Ms Amarjit Kaur, a Dalit woman.
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Lookalikes of celebrities in demand
New Delhi, May 4 And there is no dearth of them in elections-2004. “We deify Bollywood and cricket personalities in India and political parties are trying to cash in on this. By presenting duplicates of actors or cricketers at their election rallies the parties hope to draw in huge crowds,” says Mr V.N. Vasanti, Director, Centre for Media Studies. The duplicate generally imitates a famous one-liner of the original actor and the crowd bursts into clapping and hooting. “Our studies have shown that the popularity graph of a political party rises when film personalities having mass appeal lend it support. “It has been observed on several occasions that in mass rallies the voter is not able to make out the difference between the duplicate and the original star. This is more so in rural areas. And our political parties have no qualms in hoodwinking the public this way,” says Dr Monica Chibb, a leading psychologist. In fact, the big names often shun trips to rural areas. So these look-alikes are handy and cost-effective in the countryside, where the original star has never once made an appearance. Also the villagers are very susceptible to film personalities. “These duplicates of famous public figures are generally from the middle or lower strata. They do not expect any molly coddling and diligently stick to the political speeches or one-liners that parties hand them out,” says Dr Chibb. “The voters’ psyche today is very result-oriented. They seek work on ground and not such cosmetics as roping in celeb lookalikes. So, although there is a novelty factor, it is short-lived — This will not garner votes,” adds Dr Chibb. From the BJP to the Congress to the BSP, most national and regional parties have sought help of these duplicates to add liveliness or colour to their campaigns. “The BJP does not have a policy of involving any lookalikes. Whosoever is willing to support our ideology or tenets is free to campaign for us on an individual level,” says Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, General Secretary and Spokesman of the BJP. Regarding the Musharraf look-alike, Mr Deepak Divekar, who has toured throughout the country campaigning for the BJP in uniform, Mr Naqvi says: “He is a party worker and not a professional duplicate. He has been associated with the party. So it is his task to campaign and spread our beliefs and party programs.” The BSP has reportedly been using such lookalikes with the claim that since these people are not from rich or influential families. They are, in fact part of the party ideology. For, they are not any reel-life heros, but poor and deprived people, hence they represent the party.
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A holy touch to campaigning Hisar, May 4 His disciples have fanned out in the area on bicycles. Dressed in whites, they operate singly. A dera flag is tied to their handlebars. They arouse the curiosity of women and children who flock to them in the countryside. These holy men in the making easily stand out in a crowd. They seek votes for their guru with folded hands. Their cool demeanour is refreshingly different from the noisy groups of political workers canvassing for their party nominees. But, that is about all the advantage the BJP nominee has. Despite help from his disciples his campaign is disorganised. This is mainly because he is not an astute politician who can organise his teams efficiently. Scores of youths can be seen lolling in his offices instead of running around in the villages. BJP workers are mostly concentrated in the towns and they are not used to braving the summer heat. So far as the workers are concerned, INLD nominee Surinder Singh Barwala too has problems. Most INLD workers using vehicles hired by him tend to register their presence in Bhiwani and Kurukshetra from where the two sons of Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala are contesting. Congress candidate Jai Parkash, too, is not immune to problems created by party workers. Those belonging to the Bhajan Lal faction of the party are giving him sleepless nights as they tend to work at cross-purposes with his supporters. HVP candidate Kanwal Singh is perhaps the most relaxed contestant. He launched his campaign early and has toured the area thrice. His team, therefore, is equally relaxed while the late entrants to the contest have to slog the whole day. Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala and other senior leaders like Mr Sampat Singh are doing extensive campaigning for Mr Barwala. Mr Chautala has personal as well as political scores to settle with Mr Jai Parkash who was once his protégé. This has given the campaign a touch of bitterness.
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CPM eyes Kolkata Kolkata, May 4 The party’s main poll campaigners — Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Anil Biswas and Biman Basu — who had been busy campaigning in the districts, have decided to spend time in Kolkata. The veteran Jyoti Basu has been also inducted in the campaigners’ list who will mostly campaign in Kolkata and the nearby districts in the present last leg of the electioneering. Though the CPM and its allies in Bengal could win 30 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 1999 elections, they failed to capture any seat in Kolkata. But this time, the CPM has targeted to capture two of the Kolkata’s three seats. While Congress candidate Ajit Kumar Panja (now Trinamool Congress) has been representing Kolkata NE for the past two decades, Kolkata South belongs to Ms Mamata Banerjee. In the Kolkata NW seat where the two Trinamool Congress leaders, Subrata Mukherjee, Kolkata Mayor, and Sudip Bandopadhyya have been fighting against each other now, it was Ashoke Kumar Sen (Congress), former Union Law Minister who built a record in successively winning the seat for seven times since 1952. The CPM has fielded three prominent leaders — Md Salim, Sudhangshu Sil and Rabin Dev — in three Kolkata seats where they will be involved in a contest with the Congress and Trinamool Congress candidates. In Kolkata NE, the Bollywood actress, Moushumi Chatterjee’s presence as Congress candidate has added glamour to the contest between Panja and Salim. In Kolkata South, where Mamata Banerjee and Rabin Dev are locked in a direct fight, the Congress candidate, Nafisa Ali, a former beauty queen, film star and swimmer, has posed a problem for Banerjee. In Kolkata NW, where the TMC sitting MP, Sudip Bandopadhyya has been denied party ticket and is contesting as an Independent candidate supported by the Congress, against another TMC candidate, Subrata Mukherjee, has been helping the CPM contestant, Sudhgangshu
Sil.
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Cong expels Chiranji Lal Sharma, son Chandigarh, May 4 Earlier, the party had expelled Kuldeep. The spokesman said the AICC observer for the Karnal constituency, Mr O.P. Jindal, had recommended the expulsion of the Sharmas. Acting on Mr Jindal's report, the Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhajan Lal, took the extreme step.
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Left parties to back Cong Kumarhatti, May 4 The need of the hour was to strengthen the secular forces in the country and in the present scenario no party except the Congress was in a position to defeat the BJP, they said. They alleged that the BJP posed a threat to the integrity of the country due to its pro-imperialist policies. The policies of the BJP-led government had done an irreparable loss to the country’s economy.
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In video:
Security beefed up in Mulayam Singh's
constituency.(
Dausa (Rajasthan), May 4
Campaign Trail
Sangrur, May 4
