Hisar, April 1
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is steadily decimating the following of his political rival Bhajan Lal in the latter’s home district - Hisar and the neighbouring Fatehabad district.

In the recent months, the frequency of the chief minister’s visits to this politically sensitive district has been increasing. Almost all these visits were basically political events, even though there were a few official engagements thrown in some of these.

The chief minister chose Hisar to hold a rally on the completion of his first year in office last year. The choice of the town for the event was a clear indication of his bid to challenge his bete noire in his den although till then the bitterness in their relations had not soared to the present level.

Hooda followed this up by holding another political rally at Balsmand village in the district. The village falls in Adampur assembly segment represented by Bhajan Lal and is considered to be his pocket borough. Through this rally Hooda successfully exposed the chinks in his rival’s citadel.

Around the same time, Hooda addressed a political rally at Bhattu Mandi in Fatehabad district. Bhattu Kalan assembly segment has a large number of Bishnoi voters who generally go by their fellow Bishnoi Bhajan Lal.

The sitting Congress MLA from Bhattu Kalan, Kulbir Beniwal, was a protégé of Bhajan Lal till Hooda became chief minister. Beniwal is now in the Hooda camp and the rally in his area signified another political win for Hooda.

The chief minister addressed a rally on March 25 at Agroha. Again, Agroha is close to Bhajan Lal’s hometown Adampur and the former Haryana Congress chief commanded a lot of influence in the area in his hey days.

Hooda was in town yesterday too. Ostensibly, he had official engagements here, including the inauguration of a park in memory of industrialist turned politician the late Om Parkash Jindal who died in a copter crash days after he became power minister in the Hooda cabinet in 2005. However, the political importance of the visit was not lost on anybody.

The chief minister is scheduled to address another rally at Hansi on April 8. The Hansi constituency is represented by Congress legislator Amir Chand Makkar who was a Bhajan Lal follower till recently. In the last assembly poll, the Hooda camp in Hansi led by Makkar’s arch rival Vinod Bhayana had given a tough fight to the former. But months after the poll, the chief minister had won over Makkar which proved to be another political blow for Bhajan Lal.

However, the Bhajan Lal camp has also taken up the challenge to halt the Hooda bandwagon. Bhajan Lal’s younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi, the suspended Congress MP from Bhiwani has intensified his efforts to retain the following at the grassroots level even though some legislators are siding with the chief minister.

Kuldeep has been regularly visiting homes of their supporters in these two districts. This campaign has helped him put across his viewpoint. His impending ouster from the Congress has only helped him in his task. The political bitterness is certain to grow in the coming months.

Karnal, April 1
Fifth Oasis Kraft Mela at Uchana, near here, has proved to be less impressive. Upset over poor sales, several craftsmen invited by the state tourism ministry are thinking to skip the event in near future.

Artisans also lamented the organising of the event in summer.

Organisers failed to turn the event like Surajkund mela. Even counters at the mela could not be filled.

More than 23 stalls in the paid counters gallery were vacant. The state government-run companies, including Vita, Markfed and others had not shown interest in participating in the event.

Craftsmen from different parts of the country are here participating in the mela a joint venture of the Haryana Tourism and the ministry of tourism, Government of India.

Organizers had stated the purpose of the mela was to make the artisans and weavers showcase their arts and crafts and provide them with an avenue for marketing crafts.

Craftsmen were annoyed with the organizers. Due to poor response Mohan Dhole, a bamboo craftsman from Guwahati was crestfallen. He complained of almost no-sale of his products.

He said the event had discouraged the participants and they were thinking to skip the venue in the future.

Similarly, Atul Datta, another craftsman dealing in jute products and hailing from Kolkata was not happy with the mela organisers. “This for the second time that we are facing almost zero sales”, he said.

Another craftsman from Dehra Dun Laxmi Narayan said he was here for the past several days but the buyers were not coming for shopping. Divisional Manager Oasis Tourist Complex S. P. Jain said the mela was drawing attention of the public. He admitted summer heat was proving a hindrance. However, he added the department was committed to make it a success.

Hisar, April 1
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Ashok Singhal today demanded the Centre enact law to prevent religious conversions.

Talking to newspersons here, he alleged that Christian missionaries were luring poor Hindus in small towns and villages by money to change faith. Likewise, in some areas of the country, Muslim religious leaders were promoting conversions.

This exercise, he said, was being carried out with the clear-cut purpose of attaining political power in India. However, the VHP and its sister organisations would oppose these moves and not allow even a single conversion.

He said after the next Lok Sabha election a political party which believed in the Hindu philosophy would be in power and it would enact suitable law to prevent conversions. Asked which party did he have in mind, Singhal avoided a direct answer and quipped there were leaders in every political party who believed in the Hindu philosophy.

Fatehabad, April 1
A superstitious family last night buried the torso of a youth, who had died due to electric shock, under the heap of cow dung for whole night in the hope that he will turn alive. Hundreds of people from nearby villages gathered at Ahelisadar to witness the drama.

Rakesh Kumar (20), a resident of Ahelisadar  village, near here, had died of electric shock on Saturday evening when he was trying check fault in the water pump.

When the news of his death reached the family of his in-laws, they came to Ahelisadar with a tantrik from Kalanwali village, who claimed that he could revive Rakesh as he had done the job earlier also.

On the direction of the tantrik, the family members buried the body of the deceased under a heap of cow dung in such a manner that his torso remained under the garbage and head above it.

The tantrik continued chanting mantras throughout the night.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people from the surrounding villages started gathering there to witness the 'miracle'.

Noticing the crowd swelling in the wee hours today, the tantrik sneaked out. The police also reached the scene after some time.

The body of the youth was cremated in the morning today. 

Yamunanagar, April 1
As many as 174 students of the Seth Jai Parkash Mukand Lal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Radaur, were given degrees at the convocation of the institute at Radaur, near here, today.

Prof R.C Sobti, vice-chancellor, Panjab University, Chandigarh, said one had to work very hard in life to realise dreams of parents. Former vice-chancellor of GJU, Hisar, and general secretary of the institute's board of management, Dr K.L Johar, asked the students be honest.

Three students would be awarded gold medal for topping various examinations by the university.

Gitanjali, Dimple Chawla and Neha Sharan were given gold medals for topping their stream examinations held by the Kurukshetra university and Kunal Bansal was given a special award for developing website of the institute.

Yesterday, 914 students of Mukand Lal National College, Yamunanagar were given degrees. Prof Pawan Kapoor, director, CSIO, Chandigarh was the chief guest. Toppers, including Anubhav Goel, Sahil, Ishan Aggarwal, Nitika, Ankita, Aruna Rani, Vijayendra, Rimpy Arora, Jitender Kumar, Shweta Goel, Rashmi Mittal, Shubra Sharma, Sushil Puri, Ekta Jain and Rupali Viz were honoured.

Kurukshetra, April 1
Prem Sagar Narad, (Seventyeight-year-old) inspector of the Supreme Court of India, former Governor, designate Assam and North Eastern States, senior member, Flood Control Board of India and the War Sancition Authority of India has been secking justice.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India, New Delhi, Narad says he joined service in 1945 to His Majesty King Emperor George VI of Great Britain and His Majesty’s successors.

Narrating his woes, Narad says he applied to the Haryana Governor on September 10, 1995 for Rs 1 lakh for repair of his house at Fatehpur village, Kaithal district. It was damaged by rain, floods and the earthquake. The financial commissioner and secretary, Haryana, vide a letter October 11, 1995 told him to see district officials, who informed Narad on October 17, 1995 Rs 1.5 lakh had been sanctioned by the Governor out of his government provident fund. But it was not received resulting in further damage to the house by rain in January, February and March, 2006. He has requested district official so many times but they have not paid him the amount, he alleges. On April 23, 1996, it was also highlighted in The Tribune.

Fateh Singh Dagar, then deputy commissioner, Kaithal, met him at on open darbar in block development office, Pundri (District Kaithal) on August 2, 2001. Dagar informed him his service pension was being prepared in New Delhi since July 2001. He has not received it till date.

Chief controller general of defence accounts senior officials pension, Allahabad (U.P.) was addressed on January 11, 2005 and February 4, 2005, for his pension payment order number and fixation but he has not received it too. He also addressed to the Chief Justice of India, New Delhi in this regard on February 21 2007 and March 24, 2007.

Narad further alleged his payment was being delayed. He has demanded that officials delaying it be punished.

Meanwhile, Narad has asked the Government of India to support him as the next President of India since present President reportedly had admitted he could not help.