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CM’s
letter exposes chinks in BJP
apprehending defeat in Mandi, says Congress Dhumal
seeks votes for stability
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Harping
on Vajpayee will not save BJP, says Stokes Employees
told to vote on issues Gorton
Castle turns 100 Verma
gets bail, re-arrested May 10
gazetted holiday 
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CM’s letter exposes
chinks in Cong unity Shimla, May 7 While the Congress has been claiming that there is complete unity in the party, Mr Bhardwaj released to mediapersons copies of a letter written by Mr Virbhadra Singh to Mr Sanjeeva Reddy, all-India president of INTUC, in defence of Mr Amarjit Bawa, state INTUC chief, which indicated that he was still at daggers drawn with Mrs Vidya Stokes, PCC chief. The letter said that cases against Mr Bawa had acquired political overtones with a former Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, Mrs Vidya Stokes and Mrs Kanta Sood, an INTUC leader, joining hands against him. It said cases were registered against Mr Bawa by the Haryana police because he refused to join hands with Mr Ajay Chautala, son of the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, against Mr Chander Mohan, son of Mr Bhajan Lal. All cases had been registered against Mr Bawa on the complaints of Sisodia or his henchmen. Sisodia was a known tout of the Haryana police and enjoyed the support of the Chautala family. Mr Bhardwaj said the Virbhadra government had also given permission to withdraw the cases registered against Mr Bawa in Himachal Pradesh. This was the most blatant instance of the Chief Minister defending criminals, which substantiated the BJP’s charge of criminalisation of politics in the state against him. He expressed apprehension that Mr Bawa and his henchmen would be deployed to rig elections in the Mandi constituency from where Mrs Pratibha Singh, wife of Mr Virbhadra Singh, was contesting. He urged the Election Commission of India to declare the Mandi constituency hyper-sensitive, particularly the Rampur and Mandi segments, as the BJP apprehended large-scale irregularities during the May 10 poll. |
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BJP apprehending defeat in Mandi, says Congress Mandi, May 7 Talking to newspersons here, he said such an irresponsible statement by Mr Jaitley had hurt the feelings of the people of Himachal Pradesh. He said Mr Jaitley’s statement was a mere reflection of the frustration of the BJP which had been routed in the Vidhan Sabha elections 13 months ago. He said the BJP rule in Himachal Pradesh had been marred by various scams. People could not get their work done without bribing officials and politicians. The party spread the cult of corruption. It had become a common saying during the BJP rule that nothing could be achieved without “dhan or Dhumal”. Jobs were for sale and the Subordinate Services Selection Board at Hamirpur had become a den of corruption and development had come to a virtual
halt. |
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Dhumal seeks votes for stability Hamirpur, May 7 Addressing election meetings in the Mewa and Nadaunta Assembly segments in this district, Prof Dhumal claimed that the BJP was once again forming its government under the leadership of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He said that BJP development were complimentary to each other. Mr Ishwar Dass Dhjiman and Mr Baldev Sharma, both MLAs, were also present with Mr Dhumal. Prof Dhumal flayed the Congress leaders for launching a vicious campaign against the BJP. This campaign would not yield any results as the people of the state were aware of the evil designs of the Congress. The BJP leader demanded a White Paper from the Congress on the jobs given by it during the past 14 months. He said the Congress had claimed that it gave 98,000 jobs in the state. However, no jobs were given in this constituency. Meanwhile, Mr Dharam Dass, pradhan, Bhareri gram panchayat and former district HVC chief, joined the BJP along with his supporters in presence of Prof Dhumal at a function held at Bhareri village. RAJGARH:
The former Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, yesterday held various rallies in Sirmour district. Prof Dhumal lambasted the Congress for making false promises to declare the residents of the Trans-Giri areas as Scheduled Tribe. He addressed public meetings at Bogdhar, Rajpura and Bhagani and mediapersons at Rajgarh and Paonta. He said the Congress was not serious regarding the problems of Trans-Giri people. Congress legislators had staged a walkout from the Assembly when the resolution to declare the residents of the Trans-Giri area as Scheduled Tribe was presented by the BJP government. |
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Shanta declares Trust accounts Palampur, May 7 Thousands of residents of adjoining areas, BJP workers and donors were present when Mr Shanta Kumar made public liabilities, assets, receipts and expenditure of the Trust till today. Mr Shanta Kumar arrived at the Trust complex at 10 am along with four trustees — Shiv Kumar, Kamlesh Sharma, Kamal Padha and Jitender Banta. Mr Shanta Kumar had also invited four Cabinet Ministers of the state Mr G.S. Bali, Mr Brij Behari Lal Butail, Ms Chandresh Kumari and Mr Chander Kumar, who had accused him of irregularities in Trust funds. Except Mr Bali, Transport Minister, no Congress leader turned up to have the details of the Trust accounts. Later, Mr Bali and Mr Shanta Kumar jointly addressed mediapersons. Mr Shanta Kumar said the Trust was set up in 1992 when he was the Chief Minister. Later, the Congress government came to power in the state, which left the project in the lurch and diverted donations received from ACC Cement Limited to another project in Bilaspur. He denied the charges of the Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, that the state government had given Rs 4 crore to the Trust. He said in 2000, when he joined the Union Cabinet, decided to revive the Trust. Mrs Chandresh Kumari, HP Health Minister, was made one of the trustees, he said. Mr Shanta Kumar said the public had responded well to his appeal for liberal donations to the Trust. In a few months, crores of rupees were collected. Later, he visited several countries and wooed NRIs for donations, who responded positively. Mr Shanta Kumar regretted that despite the fact that this project was for public cause and a public asset, Congress leaders tried to make it an electoral issue. To a question, he said he had no objection to getting the accounts audited by CAG if rules permitted. Mr Bali said he was not satisfied with the answers of Mr Shanta Kumar. He said it would not be possible to run this institution since Rs 2 crore would he required every month for the salary doctors and other staff. Where would the money come from? he asked. Meanwhile, over Rs 32 lakh were received by the Trust as donation today. People from different walks of life donated for the Trust today. CHAMBA: The Congress has asked Mr Shanta Kumar, BJP candidate from the Kangra Lok Sabha constituency, why was he removed from the Union Cabinet and why he did not contest his removal. Addressing a series of election meetings in the district, Prof Chander Kumar, Congress candidate from the Kangra Lok Sabha seat, said that Mr Shanta Kumar his writing letters to the voters, would not help him. Prof Chander Kumar alleged that the ouster of Mr Shanta Kumar from the Cabinet had shown the BJP high command’s dislike for him. Besides bungling in the accounts of the Vivekanand Medical Research Trust (VMRT) at Palampur, Mr Shanta Kumar misused his power by appointing his brother as a Chief Executive Officer of the Trust, Prof Chander Kumar alleged. On the issue of a cement plant in Chamba, Prof Kumar said it was the BJP, which had cashed in on the plant in every election but so far failed to get environment clearance from the Centre though the BJP-led NDA government was in power at the Centre. |
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Harping on Vajpayee will not save BJP, says Stokes Shimla, May 7 Addressing a press conference here, she said the BJP had no real issue to put before the electorate and it continued harping on the name of Mr Vajpayee which would not work. Instead of seeking a mandate on positive issues like development or the performance of the NDA regime, it was seeking votes merely to give a second term to Mr Vajpayee. She said with four years of its term still to go, the Congress was in the driver’s seat. The electorate of the state were mature enough to appreciate that their concerns about
development and other issues would be addressed only by the state government. Moreover, the people had a bitter experience of five years of the NDA rule and they did not want to court trouble by voting it back to power.
— TNS |
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Employees told to vote on issues Shimla, May 7 In a appeal to the employees it pointed out that the attention was being diverted from core issues like rising prices, unemployment, recession in industrial and farm sectors and decline in per capita consumption of food by harping on the ‘feel good’ and “India Shining”. The NDA government, if voted back to power would amend laws to pave the way for ‘hire and fire’ system it said. The government departments would be downsized as per the recommendation of Expenditure Reforms Commission, putting a question mark over the future of employees. Privatisation, voluntary retirement schemes and compulsory retirement were also being proposed. Even the Department of Posts would be privatised. Already about 17,000 posts had been abolished in the department, several other departments would be pruned. A new pension scheme had been introduced to curtail benefits. Interest on provident funds had been reduced from 12 to 8 per cent. Keeping in view these realities employees should exercise their right to vote to safeguard their interests, the appeal said. |
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Gorton Castle turns 100 Shimla, May 7 A special postal cover on the building was presented by Chief Post Master General Indira Krishan Kumar to Comptroller and Auditor General of India V.N. Kaul at a special function organised here today to mark the centenary celebrations. The picture and brief history of the building is depicted on the cover which cost Rs 10. Mr Kaul also inaugurated an exhibition on heritage buildings in Shimla town. The monumental building housed the Central
Secretariat of the British Government till 1942 and the office of the Accountant General of India was shifted to the building in 1954. The building belonged to Col.
T. D. Colyear in 1963 and was sold to Administrator General Tuther in 1879 for Rs 26,000. He also parted with this property to Father Polycarp on behalf of the Roman Catholic community who at one time proposed to erect a Chapel there. The property again changed hands and Sir Theodore Hope who acquired the premises, sold it to Col William Bisset for Rs 40,000. In 1890, Sir James Walker purchased it for Rs 80,000 and donated it for setting up a hospital for Europeans. The place was not found suitable for the hospital and the site was handed over to the government for Rs 1.20 lakh and the construction on the new building presently known as Gorton Castle was started in November, 1901, at an estimated cost of Rs 11 lakh. The commanding structure covering an area of 80,000 sq feet was constructed under the supervision of Maj
H. F. Chesney and was completed in May, 1904, at a cost of Rs 14.02 lakh.
— PTI |
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Verma gets bail, re-arrested Shimla, May 7 Police sources said a non-bailable warrant had been issued against him in another case some time ago, which was executed today. Earlier, Mr Justice K.C. Sood, while allowing the bail plea of Mr Verma, ordered that he should not leave the jurisdiction of Shimla district and should not tamper with the evidence. The charge against Mr Verma is that he has assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. |
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May 10 gazetted holiday Shimla, May 7 The state government has declared May 10 as gazetted holiday to enable employees of government offices, boards, corporations, educational institutions and industrial establishments situated in state to cast votes. This would be a paid holiday for daily wage employees. She added that instructions had been issued by the Labour Commissioner-cum-chief Inspector of Factories on paid holiday on poll day to every person employed in any business, trade, industrial undertakings or any other establishment in the state. She told that the government of India has already issued instructions for the closing of central government offices on May 10. |
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Nahan
Judge shifted to Shimla Shimla, May 7 Mr Sher Singh Sen, Additional District and Sessions Judge, Nahan, has been transferred and posted at Shimla. The newly appointed
ADJ, Mr Sushil Kukreja, has been posted at Nahan. — OC |
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