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Cong manifesto promises to nail the INLD corrupt
‘Aya Rams, Gaya Rams’ in
Samalkha
Assembly
Seats — Jind District
Assembly Seat
— KAITHAL
Young scions pull crowds
Women nominees are favourites
Poll fever missing in Bihar
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Cong manifesto promises to nail the INLD corrupt
Chandigarh, January 24 “I hope that the Congress government in Haryana would endorse this manifesto as its policy document and ensure its implementation at all levels,” announced Mr Ashok Gehlot, Chairman of the election manifesto committee of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC). Flanked by the President of the Haryana Pradesh Congress
Committee (HPCC), Mr Bhajan Lal, and the convener of the election manifesto, Mr Birendra Singh, Mr Gehlot hoped that the Congress would be voted to power with a thumping majority. Tall promises notwithstanding, the manifesto has skipped important issues like minimum support price (MSP) of the agriculture produce. The manifesto talks about tackling issues like the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal and getting Haryana Sikhs a separate gurdwara parbandhak committee. It also plans to empower women, launch various schemes for welfare of ex-servicemen, setting up of a Haryana development Council, giving autonomy to universities and making educational institutions better and step up industrialisation and attract foreign investment. A job guarantee scheme would be introduced on the pattern of the central legislation so that each youth gets a guaranteed
job. At present there were more than 10 lakh unemployed youth in the State. The Bill would make employment a legal right. Both Mr Gehlot and Mr Bhajan Lal said elected legislators and the party President would decide about the next Congress Chief Minister of the State. When Mr Birendra Singh announced that he was a candidate for the leadership of the Congress Legislature Party, Mr Bhajan Lal, too, staked his claim saying that he too was in the run. “More the merrier,” remarked Mr Bhajan Lal as it “strengthens the democratic base of the party”. After releasing the manifesto, Mr Birendra Singh said about three months ago, the Congress had submitted a charge-sheet against the INLD government to the Governor urging him to get criminal cases registered against Mr Chautala and his accomplices. “Our information is that the Governor is getting internal reports on our charge-sheet. We will not set up any commission of Inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act. In all cases where prima facie charges are established, we will go for registration of cases on the basis of preliminary inquiries. We do not want our term to be lost in Commission of Inquiry or holding inquiries,” said Mr Birendra Singh, holding that five years of the INLD rule were marked by criminalisation, corruption, extortion, mis-administration which has done incalculable damage to the governance in Haryana. “There is a total break down of law and order and unmanageable gigantic crisis in agriculture, industry, education, health, employment, social harmony and other vital economic fields,” he said and the “endeavour of the new government would be to devolve all financial and administrative powers to panchayats, block samitis, democratic institutions in promising transparent and accountable administration. Birendra Singh held that even constitutional and important institutions like Legislature, Public Service Commission, Subordinate Services Board and other such bodies were rendered defunct. The assembly met for only 57 days in five years and the state bureaucracy was converted into a class of spineless servitors. Promising better governance, he said land records would be computerised export zones would be set up. New canals and check dams would be constructed and arid lands of South Haryana would be recharged by raising ground water level. He held that the Ravi-Beas waters would also be brought under the purview of the Apex Court as Congress would try to make efforts for speedy completion of SYL.
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‘Aya Rams, Gaya Rams’ in Samalkha
THE INLD is struggling to retain its Samalkha seat as its rebel Inder Singh
Chhokhar is posing a challenge to its candidate Katar Singh Chhokar, a former
Finance Minister. A survey of the constituency suggests though Inder is not in a
winning position, yet he will harm Mr Katar’s chances. Mr Katar himself
admitted this fact while talking to The Tribune. Nine candidates are trying
their luck here. However triangular contest is expected among Mr Katar(INLD), Mr
Bharat Singh Chhokar (Congress) and Mr Sachdev Tyagi (BJP).
Samalkha is known as a Gujjar dominant seat. The politics of Haryana is infamous for its Aya Ram Gaya Ram as leaders here do not take any time in changing their loyalties according to their self-interests. The Samalkha assembly constituency is clear example of this tradition of politics as all three prominent contestants Mr Katar Singh Chhokar (INLD), Mr Bharat Singh Chhokar (Congress) and Mr Sachdev Tyagi (BJP) are deserters of those parties, from where they had started their political career. Dewan aims at hat-trick It’s
a hat-trick chance for Mr Dev Raj Dewan on the Sonepat pitch. Having won
the last two Assembly elections consecutively as an Independent, he is
trying his luck now on Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s NCP
ticket. However, Mr Anil Takkar (Congress, Mr Lalit Batra (BJP), Mr
Satyender Nandal (INLD) and a rebel Congressman, Mr Rajiv Jain
(Independent), are opposing Mr Dewan’s attempt at making a hat-trick. An initial survey indicates a multi-cornered contest. Eleven candidates are in the fray. However, the contest is expectedly among sitting MLA Dewan, Mr Takkar, Mr Batra, Mr Nandal and Mr Jain. Dominated by the Punjabi community, seven of the nine elections have been won by the candidates belonging to the same community. This time also, three (Dewan, Takkar and Batra) of the five prominent candidates are Punjabis. Bhajan’s prestige at
stake Neither state Congress President and former CM Bhajan Lal nor BJP Vice-President and Sonepat MP is contesting the Assembly elections from Gohana seat but their credibility is at stake here. While Congress candidate and former MP Dharam Pal Malik is a confidant of Mr Bhajan Lal, Gohana is the home constituency of Mr Sangwan. Similarly,
the BJP fielded a Congress rebel, Mr Jitender Gaur, in Sangwan’s home
constituency.
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Assembly
Seats — Jind District
All eyes in Haryana are on Jind district these days. Three contenders for the post of Chief Minister are trying their luck from this district.
If INLD supremo Mr Om Prakash Chautala, discredited after the Meham mayhem, staged a comeback in Haryana politics from this district in 1993, Mr Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party established its credibility as an alternative to the Congress before the 1996 elections by organising a massive rally here in 1995. The disenchantment of the farming community with Mr Chautala also began from Kandela in this district in 2002 when the police opened fire on BKU agitators, killing nine persons. For Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, by defeating whom Mr Chautala re-entered the mainstream, it had always been beneficial to contest against the INLD leader. His 1993 defeat earned him the statewide recognition. His 1996 victory (against Mr Chautala) provided him with an opportunity to make an impression as a young parliamentarian. His narrow defeat in 2000 (again at the hands of Mr Chautala) catapulted him as the President of the all-India Youth Congress. (He was aspiring at that time to head the Haryana Youth Congress). His four-year-stint in Delhi brought him close to the first family of the Congress The end of his term saw him occupying a senior position in the Haryana Congress. Will his 2005 encounter with Mr Chautala put him firmly in the race for the top post in the state? Answer will be available only on February 27, when the votes would be counted. The 13-cornered contest in Narwana has been virtually reduced a straight fight between Mr Chautala and Mr Surjewala. Mr Chautala, who is busy campaigning for his party in the entire state, is being represented in this constituency by his MP son, Ajay. His younger son, Abhay, is looking after Rori, from where also the INLD supremo is contesting. Randeep has to find for himself as his father, Shamsher Singh, is contesting from Kaithal. Another Congress contender for the chief ministership, Mr Birender Singh, seems comfortably placed against his main rival, Mr Des Raj Nambardar (INLD) in the six-cornered contest at Uchana. Unlike Randeep, who is unable to leave his constituency, Birender often takes time off campaigning to represent his party at innumerable TV channels. The Congress candidates in the Jind, Saffidon and Jullana constituencies of the district are being troubled by party rebels. Former Haryana Finance Minister and General Secretary of the Congress Mange Ram Gupta, is facing a tough challenge from his traditional rival, Mr Brij Mohan Singla, who is contesting as an Independent. Mr Singla is a known close associate of Mr Jai Prakash Barwala, Congress MP from Hisar, and Mr Birender Singh, a former Haryana Congress President. Whenever Mr Gupta has lost the elections, it was Mr Singla who emerged as the winner. Mr Surinder Singh Barwala (INLD) and Mr Shri Niwas Verma (BJP) have to work very hard to keep their party flags flying. The sitting Congress MLA, Mr Sher Singh, popularly known as “IG” (he retired from a paramilitary force as an IG), is locked in a grim battle with Mr Parminder Singh Dhull, who remained the President of the
Jind District Congress Committee for several years before he decided to contest as an Independent from Jullana. The INLD has fielded Mr Partap Singh Deskhera, a commission agent in the local mandi. The Samajwadi Party is being represented by Mr Sanjay Lather. In Safidon, Mr Karanvir Singh Saini (Cong), a newcomer, has to take on Mr Bachan Singh Arya, who was a minister in the Bhajan Lal Cabinet. Mr Arya is a Congress rebel. The INLD has renominated its sitting MLA, Mr Ram Phal Kundu, who is facing a strong anti-incumbency sentiment. Another Congress rebel, Mr Jasbir Deswal, withdrew from the contest after he was persuaded to do so by Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a former Haryana Congress President and the MP from Rohtak.
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Assembly Seat
— KAITHAL
Kaithal, January 24 Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala is a senior Congress in Haryana. Mr Surjewala has thrice been an MLA, former Haryana minister and he is also a former Rajya
Sabha MP. Mr Surjewala wants to bring about a sea-change in Kaithal which will bring peace and prosperity in his Assembly segment. “Under the Chautala Government, the law and order situation has deteriorated all over Haryana, particularly in Kaithal. He promised that policing would be beefed up once the Congress regained power. “People will feel the difference after the Congress forms the government. Criminalisation will be completely halted here,” he said. Mr Surjewala said the issue of a gold brick gifted to Mr Chautala in the grain market of Kaithal was also being highlighted by him. “There has been large-scale corruption under the Chautala regime and people want to change the government.” He stated that issues like poor sewerage, bad roads, unavailability of water in the tail-end of minors were being taken up during campaigning to show the lack of development in Kaithal. “Incidentally, water meant for Kaithal and the adjoining areas had been diverted by Mr Chautala towards Sirsa,” he claimed. Mr Surjewala stressed that he was not an outsider as was being claimed by his
opponent. "I belong to this region. My ancestral village is Sismor-Sisla in Kaithal tehsil and my grandfather had migrated from there to Narwana. In any case, Narwana and Kaithal are adjoining areas,” he said. Growth major issue for BJP Mr Ravi Bhushan Garg has been in active politics for the past three decades but is contesting for the first time on the BJP ticket. The state president of the BJP NGO cell, Mr Garg said that development was a major issue in this election. “Issues like price rise and the acute shortage of urea under the Congress-led UPA Government will also play a role,” he said. He promised that if he was elected, he would accord top priority to the safety and security of the people and their belonging. “A large number of serious crimes have taken place in Kaithal over the past five years. Despite raising our voice against criminal activities, the Chautala Government has failed to check anti-social elements,” he said. Mr Garg said he was keen for the setting up of a government college and an overbridge on the Jind road. He said even basic necessities of people was lacking in Kaithal. “There is lack of availability of clean drinking water and there are no sewerage outlets. Most streets are pot-holed. All this will improve once I am elected,” he said. Mr Garg said while INLD candidate Kailash Bhagat would have to face the anti-incumbency factor, Congress candidate Shamsher Singh Surjewala was an outsider. INLD man banks on social work INLD candidate Kailash Bhagat is in the electoral fray for the first time. Although, he is considered to be a political green-horn, Mr Bhagat is banking upon the achievements of the Chautala Government for victory. Mr Kailash Bhagat has been granted the INLD ticket in the place of sitting MLA Leela Ram. However, there is no dissent in the INLD ranks. Mr Bhagat said that the Chautala Government had brought about major development in Kaithal. “People are witness to development works undertaken during the INLD Government. Development will be the key factor in the Kaithal area,” he said. Mr Kailash Bhagat said his main adversary in the election was Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala (Cong). “However, Mr Surjewala is an outsider and people of Kaithal will vote for me as an outsider will not be able to understand their issues,” he said. He stressed that he has been carrying out social work for a long time. “People of Kaithal are aware that I believe in doing social work so as to ameliorate the suffering of the less privileged,” he said.
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Young scions pull crowds
Chandigarh, January 24 Though they have been around for an election or two, the youth tag has never held greater pull than this election. "Youth" seems the magic word, the crowd-puller and the vote getter. Political families are cashing in on their "young" since nearly half of the total electorate is in the age group of 18-40 years. Educated, up-to-date with technology, they are a new breed of politicians with new thinking that fires them and propels them onward. This new face of Haryana politics thrown up by election 2005, has either youth leaders directly in the fray or managing the show from behind the scenes. Working President of the Haryana State Congress Committee, also a Chief Ministerial candidate, Randeep Singh Surjewala, has not only spearheaded a number of agitations in the state but also taken on the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala more than once. Election 2005, in Narwana, is anybody's game. "It's a completely different ball game when you are fighting a Chief Minister who has reigned for nearly six years and doled out jobs in his constituency at the drop of a hat. With the entry of well-read and well-bred youth into politics, it is being cleansed of criminal elements," he opines. Member of Parliament from Bhiwani and son of the HPCC president, Kuldeep Bishnoi, is pitching in for his father, Bhajan Lal, from their "family seat" of Adampur while Naveen Jindal is campaigning for his father from Hisar. Representing the next generation of leaders for the Haryana Vikas Party, now a part of the Congress, is Bansi Lal's son, Surender Singh. Fighting from Tosham in Bhiwani, Surender Singh, maintains, "Fielding of young leaders and involving the young in the election exercise shows that our party cares for the aspirations of the youth." The Indian National Lok Dal, too, has its share of youthful energy in the two sons of Mr Chautala. Both, Ajay and Abhay, are "experienced hands" in politics and are campaigning aggressively for their father in Narwana and Rori. The Bharatiya Janta Party, fielding candidates from all seats for the first time and going it alone, is also fielding young candidates. However, it remains to be seen how they fare. The results on February 27 will tell.
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Women nominees are favourites
Karnal, January 24 Colourful scenes are witnessed in those constituencies where women candidates are in the fray. “This is a reflection of the emerging women power in politics. It is a recognition to the fact that electioneering undertaken by us has a semblance of discipline and decency,” said Ms Sumita Singh, President of the Haryana Mahila Congress ,who is contesting the Assembly elections for the first time from the urban prestigious constituency of Karnal. Her colleague in politics and district president of the Mahila Congress, Ms Meena Mandal’ who is contesting from the Jundla (reserved) constituency of district Karnal, said, “We are not attracting people because of glamour. When we go out for campaigning, people think it will be a decent crowd and nothing undesirable will take place. That is why women s and young people are more attracted to our meetings.”
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Poll fever missing in Bihar
Buxar, January 24 In other words, there is no election fever here where voters are expected to use their fundamental right to vote in 10 days. Missing posters, hoardings, canvassing on cars and jeeps and blaring loudspeakers are possibly taking fun out of the electoral exercise. But then, people and officials are happy, rather relieved, over the development. The secret of their happiness lies in the strict orders of the Election Commission which has posted observers from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) in each Assembly constituency. As if it was not enough, the EC has gone a step further and has also posted an officer of the Indian Revenue and Custom S. Paliwal to keep a vigil on the expenditure of each contestant. The expenditure limit for an Assembly candidate is Rs 10 lakh which includes expenditure from
the day nomination is filed to the last day of voting, District Magistrate Bipin Kumar told The Tribune that the EC was very strict
about it. I n Buxar and naxal violence infested district of Navada, the Commission had ordered transfers of the Superintend of Police (SP). New Buxar SP Amitabh Kumar Das, who replaced Mr Madai Ram, assumed charge on January 18 and has already been working overtime to ensure that weaker sections of the Scheduled Caste And Tribes are able to exercise their right of franchise. He admitted that in the 2004 Lok Sabha election, a Station Officer, in-Charge of the Police Station Industrial Area Akhouri Bhupendra Sahay was able to help Dalits to vote but then he has meanwhile been transferred under pressure of the local mafia gangs.
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Chandigarh, January 24
