Chautala violating model code, says K.P. Singh
Panchkula, May 6
The district president of the Haryana Vikas Party(HVP), Mr KP Singh, today accused the Om Prakash Chautala Government of violating the model code of conduct by initiating new developmental projects.

Ravi Chautala, too, vies for Devi Lal’s legacy
Sirsa, May 6
Mr Ravi Chautala (34), son of Chaudhary Devi Lal’s second son Mr Pratap Chautala, is also in the race for Chaudhary Devi Lal’s political legacy. Ravi suffered a setback when the BJP showed reluctance to his campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana.

No party will get majority, claims Chautala
Sirsa, May 6
No political party will get a clear majority, therefore, the INLD will play an important role in the formation of the government in the Centre. This was claimed by the INLD supremo and Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today. He was speaking at the Kamboj Mahasammelan organised by members of the Kamboj community at Ottu village in the district.

CAT stays proceedings against Jogpal
Chandigarh, May 6
The Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal(CAT) has stayed disciplinary proceedings initiated by the Haryana Government against the State Election Commissioner, Mr T.D. Jogpal.

• Notice issued

Panipat, May 6
The BJP General Secretary, Mr Pramod Mahajan, said today that only government with full majority could work sincerely for the development of the country. Therefore, the voters should cast vote for the national parties and ignore the regional parties in the national interest.

Addressing a rally, Mr Mahajan said in this uncertain environment the country needed a suitable government headed by Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. If the government is formed in the Centre with the help of the regional parties then the party could not implement its policy and concentrate on the progress of the nation,” he claimed.

Mr Mahajan is the second senior BJP leader who has appealed to the voters to cast vote against the regional parties. Earlier, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, had called upon the people to cast vote against regional parties in a rally held at Palwal.

The General Secretary said the INLD had done nothing for the people of Haryana. It even failed to maintain law and order situation. Commenting on the exit poll results, Mr Mahajan said the poll conducted by the electronic media were far away from the reality. The NDA will get more than 300 seats.

He said the Congress had no leader to project as the next Prime Minister. “Ms Sonia Gandhi is incapable to become the next Prime Minister as she could not understand the problems of the people. Even she could not speak Hindi properly. Only stalwart leader like Mr Vajpayee is capable to become the Prime Minister,” he said.

FATEHABAD: The elections are contests between the Congress and the BJP and the regional parties will have no place whatsoever in the post-poll scenario in the country, said Mr Mahajan while addressing a meeting at Bhattu Kalan on Thursday.

The BJP leader also criticised the INLD and its leader, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, and said votes cast in favour of the INLD would go waste as regional parties would have no place in the future scheme of things after the parliamentary elections.

Mr Ranjit Singh and the BJP candidate for the Sirsa constituency, Mr Mahavir Prasad, also addressed the meeting.

Hisar: Mr Pramod Mahajan, general secretary, BJP, said today that the INLD would not be able to open its account in Haryana in this election.

He was addressing a rally in favour of the BJP candidate, Swami Raghvanand at the old government college ground, here. He said the main battle was being fought between the BJP and the Congress to form the next government at the Centre.

He said Ms Sonia Gandhi could not become the Prime Minister as voters were against her foreign origin. If the people did not give clear mandate to Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee then there would be a long queue of chief ministers and former chief ministers for becoming the Prime Minister. The third front would not be able to give a stable government to the country.

Ambala, May 6
Her proximity, “perceived” as the likes to term it, to the AICC President, Mr Sonia Gandhi, has stood Ms Selja in good stead. After she shifted from her traditional seat of Sirsa, it was widely believed that she may have to counter hostility from a large section of Congressmen in Ambala. However, due to her closeness to Mr Gandhi, no Congressman in the constituency is daring to oppose her. Rather, a sort of race is on among her partymen to outshine the others in campaigning for her.

The motive is not altruistic. Those Congressmen who want to contest the next Assembly elections, due within months, want to be on the right side of Ms Selja, who would presumably have a weighty say in the distribution of ticket, particularly in the segments falling under the Ambala Lok Sabha constituency, provided, of course, if she wins from here.

The unexpected cooperation from Congressmen is primarily responsible for the quick acceleration her campaign has achieved despite her being an “outsider. A former Haryana Youth Congress President, Mr Nirmal Singh, is in the forefront of the campaign. He was also instrumental in persuading Ms Selja to shift from Sirsa to Ambala. Mr Nirmal Singh, who has appreciable influence in several Assembly segments of the constituency, is going all out to ensure the victory of Ms Selja.

It is widely believed that she was reluctant to face the Chautalas in their native district of Sirsa. She was also apprehensive about the support of the Haryana Congress President, Mr Bhajan Lal, who controls over 50,000 Bishnoi votes in Sirsa. Mr Selja denies it. She says she was offered ticket from four constituencies by the high command. But she left the decision to the party, which asked her to contest from Ambala. Now, she says, she plans to contest next elections also from here. Sonia’s successful rally in Ambala Cantonment on May 2 has given a boost of the morale of the Congress sympathisers. It has also compelled workers of the BJP and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) to pull up their socks.

The way Ms Selja’s campaign has picked up, is giving sleepless nights to the sitting BJP candidate and former President of the Haryana unit of the party, Mr Rattan Lal Kataria. Till Ms Selja entry, his victory was being taken as granted. Now his supporters are not too sure. He is banking upon the Vajpayee factor as well as the development works initiated under the MP Local Area Development Fund.

The INLD candidate, Mr Balwant Singh Kotkachhua, is not affected by the presence of Ms Selja. He is particularly strong in the rural areas but has to face a strong anti-incumbency factor against his party’s government. The urban areas too are his soft belly. Realising this weakness, the INLD is making special efforts to win over urban voters. However, not much success seems to be coming its way. Interestingly, Mr Kotkachhua is closely related to Mr Suraj Bhan, former Governor of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, who had been a BJP MP from here several times. Now Mr Suraj Bhan is heading the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes. He is keeping himself off the campaigning.

Mr Kotkachhua is facing hostility in those rural areas where sugarcane growers have been denied the state advisory price of Rs 110 per quintal by private mills.

There are a number of candidates in the fray who themselves are unlikely to win but will play in important role in marring the prospects of the nominees of main parties. The Haryana Akali Dal, which has dissociated itself from the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has fielded Mr Raunak Singh, who is likely to cut into the Sikh votes of the BJP and the INLD. Mr Chander Pal of the BSP would by and large affect Ms Selja. Mr Aman Kumar Nagra, a former President of the Haryana BSP, who is now contesting on the ticket of the Haryana Vikas Party, will eat into the votes of the BSP as well as those of parties depending upon the anti-INLD vote.

Ambala, May 6
Actor-turned-politician Sunil Dutt said today that the NDA government had failed to fulfil its promises made during the last elections.

Addressing a rally in the city in support of a Congress candidate, Ms Selja, he said the Prime Minister had promised to provide jobs to one crore unemployed youths every year but nothing had been done in this regard.

He said this time the elections were not going to be held between the Congress and the BJP but between Gandhian and RSS ideology. He alleged that the BJP had attempted to divide the country on the basis of religion and caste, posing a threat to the integrity of the nation.

He said all sections of society, especially farmers, were annoyed with the "anti-people" policy of the Union Government.

He said 16,000 farmers had committed suicide all over the country during the regime of this government as they were not being paid remunerative price for their produce.

Karnal, May 6
Actor Sunil Dutt, addressing a rally in favour of Congress candidate Arvind Sharma here today, lashed out at the Chautala government for the rise in crime during its rule.

Trying to boost the morale of Congressmen in the state, he said the workers should unite as the party strength lay in the strength of the workers.

He said BJP leaders were making false promises. He said it was time to pave the way for the formation of a secular government led by the Congress.

He said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the only Prime Minister who had ‘facilitated’ corruption and had not punished any of his colleagues who were found involved in scams.

The rally was poorly organised. Mr Dutt was not even offered a chair on the stage. He had begin his speech immediately after he reached the venue and left the scene after he finished addressing the gathering. Some Congressmen even had a minor scuffle to get a seat on the stage.

Our Correspondent adds from Yamunanagar: Mr Sunil Dutt, talking to newspersons here on Thursday, said the results of the exit polls would prove wrong.

He said religion should not be mixed with politics, adding that in politics, criminalisation was playing an important role.

Later addressing a rally in favour of Mr Naveem Jindal, Congress nominee from the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency, he asked the NDA government to release a White Paper on the progress made during its tenure in the field of education.

Sirsa, May 6
Mr Ravi Chautala (34), son of Chaudhary Devi Lal’s second son Mr Pratap Chautala, is also in the race for Chaudhary Devi Lal’s political legacy.

Ravi suffered a setback when the BJP showed reluctance to his campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. Mr Ranjit Singh, another son of the late ‘Tau’, allegedly blocked Ravi’s entry to the BJP. Ranjit Singh joined the BJP recently after quitting the Congress.

Ravi, who stayed with his grandfather in Delhi, returned to Sirsa after Devi Lal’s death. He organised a youth conference in Sirsa in 2002 to show his following. He was set to join the BJP but Mr Ranjit Singh joined it before him. Mr Ranjit Singh has been assigned the job of campaigning for BJP candidate Mahabir Prasad in the Sirsa constituency. Ravi may knock the door of the BJP again if Mr Ranjit Singh fails to attract votes for the party in Sirsa.

Ravi Chautala does not enjoy good terms with uncle, Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister, Haryana. Four cases filed against Ravi by the Haryana Police are attributed to Mr Om Prakash Chautala.

Feud between Devi Lal’s four sons (one of whom is no more) over the legacy has been compared with the fight between Mughal Emperor Shahjahan’s four sons. Even Devi Lal reportedly conceded it.

Sirsa, May 6
No political party will get a clear majority, therefore, the INLD will play an important role in the formation of the government in the Centre.

This was claimed by the INLD supremo and Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today. He was speaking at the Kamboj Mahasammelan organised by members of the Kamboj community at Ottu village in the district.

The Chairman of the Haryana Seed Development Corporation, Mr Subhash Kamboj, along with Kamboj leaders was present.

Mr Chautala visited several villages in the district to woo voters for the party’s candidate, Dr Sushil Indora. Wooing the farmers, he said he would support only that government at the Centre which would assure him of working for the betterment of farmers.

Meanwhile, residents of Sadewala continued their dharna in protest against water scarcity for the fifth day today.

Chandigarh, May 6
The Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal(CAT) has stayed disciplinary proceedings initiated by the Haryana Government against the State Election Commissioner, Mr T.D. Jogpal.

The stay orders were issued by the Bench comprising Mr Justice O.P. Garg, Vice-Chairman, and Mr S.K. Malhotra, Administrative Member, yesterday after the state government sought adjournment for filing the reply. The Bench directed the state to file its reply within 15 days.

The Haryana Government had issued a charge-sheet to Mr Jogpal under Rule 8 of the All-India Service (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules, 1969, for major punishment, read with Rule 6(1) of the All-India Service(Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958.

The allegation against Mr Jogpal was that when working as the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Industrial Training, in 1997, he put up a wrong proposal to the Minister of his department for regularising of the services of a junior mistress, Mrs Raj Rani, in violation of government instructions issued on January 28, 1991.

The government had recently appointed Mr Sunil Ahuja, Financial Commissioner, Revenue, as the inquiry officer against Mr Jogpal, who holds a constitutional post similar to that of the Chief Election Commissioner of India. When Mr Ahuja asked Mr Jogpal to appear before him last month, Mr Jogpal moved the CAT on April 20. The CAT asked the government to produce the record of the case. However, the government did not produce the record yesterday and sought an adjournment.

In his application before the CAT, Mr Jogpal contended that the Chautala government came into power 10 days after he took over as the State Election Commissioner. Since panchayat and municipal elections were due in the state, he had to hold the elections as provided under the law. However, the Chautala government wanted these to be held after the Assembly elections.

He earned the annoyance of the government because of his insistence on implementing the legal provisions which provided that the elections be held before the expiry of the five-year term of these bodies.

The government issued him a memo in 2001, over three years after he retired from the IAS. Denying any irregularity in the regularisation of the junior mistress, Mr Jogpal contended that under the law, he could be removed from the constitutional post only by way of impeachment. The government charge-sheeted him to tarnish his image and to harass him.

He also contended that the Union Government’s instructions provided that when a member of an All-India Service was appointed as a Chairman or member of the Union Public Service Commission or the State Public Service Commission, he ceased to be in government service and the rules framed under the All-India Services Act relating to pay, leave and pension were not applicable to him.

Similarly, in view of the constitutional safeguards provided to Election Commissioners, no disciplinary proceedings could be initiated against them under the 1969 or 1958 rules.

Ambala, May 6
The Central Bureau of Investigation has begun probe into the case of submission of forged educational qualification documents submitted by two telecom employees in the Haryana circle.

Chief General Manager (Telecom), Haryana circle, Mr A. K. Nagpal, did not rule out the possibility of the forged document racket having spread to other states.

“CBI investigation has revealed that Yogender Prasad and Vijay Pal Singh, both SDOs, had submitted forged degrees. Another person, Shashi Kant, had also applied for the post of JTO on the basis of a forged degree. They are related to each other,” he said.

Mr A.K. Nagpal said they had received a complaint that Yogender Prasad had submitted a forged degree of Meerut University. “We took prompt action and our team went to the University. The Registrar of Meerut University confirmed that the degree was forged. Thereafter, we began looking into other suspect cases,” he said.

He stated that the case was recently handed over to the CBI after they suspected that more such cases may be there. “The CBI, during its investigation, found out about the third person who had submitted a forged degree certificate for employment,” he said. “The enquiry by the CBI is going on,” he added.

Mr Nagpal strongly denied all allegations levelled against him. “One allegation is that the company M/s Ericsson was supposed to provide free of cost coverage on national highways. This allegation is totally wrong as the tender was awarded to M/s Ericsson to cover the entire state of Haryana. The requisite network was duly completed as per terms and conditions of the tender. To obtain proper coverage, BSNL got eight additional BTS sites installed,” he said.

He stated that the second allegation was that liquidation charges, which were leviable, were not levied by the company. “This allegation is absolutely wrong as terms and conditions of the tender were applied to the best advantage of BSNL and it is obvious that liquidation damage charges are applicable only for default on the part of the vendor,” he said.

“Any person with common sense will realise that the allegation of Rs 1.60 crore spent in a year on tea parties is not possible. The allegations are being made to demoralise us. But, we will carry on with our good work,” he said.

Mr Nagpal stated that the false and baseless allegations have been levelled by persons with vested interest. “I have received threatening telephone calls. In my opinion, our competitors could be behind this defamatory attempt to malign and tarnish our reputation,” he alleged.

He stated that Haryana circle was one of the best telecom circles in the country. “BSNL has emerged as the No. 1 cellular service provider in the state with 2,07,000 connections. During the year 2003-04, a total of 1,15,000 connections were provided,” he said.

“BSNL Haryana has been adjudged as the best cellular service operators among the private operators as far as the quality of service to customers by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in the whole country among all ‘B’ circles is concerned. The realised revenue of BSNL Haryana, during the year was Rs 875 crore, which shows an increase of 27 per cent over the last financial year,” he said.

Chandigarh, May 6
Two persons today filed writs in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions to the Returning Officer of the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency to allow them to contest the forthcoming elections.

In their writs, Amrik Singh of Kaithal and Narinder Nad of Raipur Rani near Panchkula have claimed that they could not file their nomination papers because when they went to file their nomination papers, a huge crowd was present and they could not get inside.

The crowd, they have claimed, was supporting Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate Abhey Singh Chautala and had gathered there to see him file his nomination. When the petitioners went to fie their nominations, the time for the same had elapsed.

Kurukshetra, May 6
To spread the message of peace, brotherhood and secularism, the Youth Aman Kaarwaan, a group of 40 young boys and girls drawn from different states and led by a social activist, Ms Shabnam Hashmi, under the banner of ‘ANHAD’ (beyond limits), reached here today.

The group has travelled 6,000 km across the length and breadth of the country to deliver the message of peace and communal harmony. The group will terminate its month-long programme in Delhi tomorrow.