Chandigarh, June 24
Supporters of suspended Congress MP from Bhiwani Kuldeep Bishnoi are nervous following refusal by several senior associates of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal to quit the Congress. The most prominent person to refuse to toe the line is former Finance Minister and MLA from Jind Mange Ram Gupta, who has been one of the most trusted lieutenants of Bishnoi's father.

For the past some time Bishnoi's supporters have been quitting the Congress in a phased manner obviously as a tactic to pressure the high command to give some weightage to the former Chief Minister. Critics of Bishnoi, however, feel that the game of resignations is being played more as a loyalty test than as a pressure tactic because Bishnoi cannot be so naive as to realise that by openly criticising AICC President Sonia Gandhi, he has gone too far to make amends with the top brass of the Congress.

His critics say by making his or his father's supporters to resign from the Congress, he is testing their loyalty so that when he is expelled from the party, there would be a group of persons to join his planned separate political outfit.

A vast majority of those who have quit the Congress at the behest of Bishnoi did not hold any post of significance either in the party or in the government. Gupta's statement, coming in this background, that he was a committed Congressman and that he would not quit the party under any circumstances, has come like a jolt to Bishnoi's supporters. They have also started realising that the high command is only waiting for the right moment for taking extreme action against Bishnoi and is in no mood to have peace with him.

Informed sources say, Gupta is not alone in refusing to toe Bishnoi's line. There are others, who, though not so vocal as Gupta, have said no to Bishnoi in the recent days. Some of the senior associates of Bhajan Lal, who have been with him for several years, the sources say, have told Bishnoi that they would quit the Congress along with his father. Nobody knows if and when Bhajan would quit the Congress. Interestingly, those who have refused to resign hold one or the other post in the party.

The sources say Bhajan Lal's associates are not happy with Bishnoi for projecting himself as the next Chief Minister ahead of his father. They feel that by doing so Bishnoi has not been able to cut much ice with the people.

A senior party functionary told TNS that it was a myth that non-Jats preferred Bhajan Lal over other Congress leaders in Haryana. He said during the 1996 Assembly elections, all the 90 tickets were given on the recommendations of Bhajan Lal. However, the party could win only nine seats. The senior party leader said if Bhajan Lal had a hold over the non-Jat voters of the state, the party would not have performed so miserably in 1996, when it was being opposed by two Jat leaders, Om Prakash Chautala and Bansi Lal. The parties led by these leaders performed much better than the Bhajan-led Congress at that time.

The sources say even those supporters of Bhajan Lal, who quit the Congress to join the BJP in the hope that afer quitting his party the former Chief Minister would enter into an alliance with the saffron party, are not happy with Bishnoi's haste in meeting Mayawati after the BSP won the UP elections.

Chhachhrouli, June 24
A training camp was organised for Congress workers at Chhachhrouli in Yamunanagar here today. Organisers were forced to make additional arrangements when the turnout at the camp was higher than the expected. The organisers had anticipated a turnout of not more than 300 but more than 2,000 persons had reached the venue, well before the camp started.

The Congress workers had worked over time to make the camp, a success as Member of Parliament Kuldeep Bhishoni is to address a public meeting at the same venue tomorrow.

The Congress has a little presence in the area as the assembly seat was won by the BSP and before that the seat was won by the BJP. A district Congress leader admitted that there was pressure on them to draw maximum crowd at the camp.

Working president of the Haryana Pardesh Congress Committee, Dr Ram Parkash, while addressing the Congress workers, claimed that Bhoopinder Singh Hooda was a capable Chief Minister and was working for the all- round development of the state. Talking about the Bhajan Lal factor, he said Hooda was made CM as the elected MLAs had desired so.

Prakash claimed that Hooda enjoys support of all MLAs and the Congress high command. He warned rebel Congress leaders to abide with the party discipline or else face action. He said only a few former Congress MLAs were with in league with Bishnoi. He called upon the party workers to spread the policies of the government in the state and work for strengthening the party in the state.

District Congress president (rural) Zakir Hussain, who had organised the camp, looked satisfied at the turnout. Several sarpanches of villages of the area announced to join the Congress at the occasion. Hussain said several important ‘grass root leaders’ from the rural area, who were working for the BSP, INLD and BJP in the past, today, joined the Congress. 

Sonepat, June 24
National general secretary of the BSP and in charge, party affairs in Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, Maan Singh Manhera said here today that the party would not have alliance with any political party in Haryana. “However political leaders in individual capacity would be welcomed to join the party”, he added while making reference to some media reports about the possibility of having alliance with the Bhajan Lal group.

Manhera was addressing a Vijay Samaroh organised to celebrate the party’s victory in Uttar Pradesh elections. He claimed that on the basis of its policies and programme and under the leadership of late Kanshi Ram and Mayawati the party had emerged as the third largest political party in the country within past 14 years and at present is in the position of a kingmaker. The party had already opened its accounts in nine states and was getting stronger day by day.

He made it clear that Scheduled Castes candidates would be fielded only on reserved seats and general seats would be covered by the candidates from other castes in the next Lok Sabha elections. “A candidate from Chamar caste will contest from Ambala and a Balmiki from Sirsa parliamentary constituencies”, he announced. Party supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has already supported making provisions of reservations for the poor people from upper castes and its beginning will be made from Uttar Pradesh, he said.

He also said that in order to strengthen the party in Haryana one lakh office-bearers would be enrolled for 15000 booths and each office-bearer would motivate five families in his relations to join the party. On this occasion Suman Singh Sharma, a former chairman of Haryana Breweries and the Haryana Seed Development Corporation who also organise this programme joined the BSP along with a number of supporters and presented a silver crown, a silver sword and Rs 15,000 to Manhera who also announced the appointment of Suman Singh Sharma as general secretary of the state unit of the party and in charge of party affairs in Sonepat parliamentary conostituency.

State president Prakash Bharti, state general secretary Rajender Sharma and BSP MLA Arjun Singh Gujjar also spoke on the occasion.

Rohtak, June 24
Normally, students feel relieved after their exams are over. However, hundreds of local students, pursuing M.Phil (distance education) from Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU), Sirsa, heaved a sigh of relief when their examinations started. And, they had a reason to feel elated as their apprehensions regarding the uncertain fate of the course ended as the exams began.

A number of students belonging to the district and nearby areas are taking the exams at different centres set up in the town. According to the centre officials and university authorities, the exams, which commenced recently, are going on smoothly.

It may be pertinent to mention here that the authorities of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, had barred their faculty members from supervising the research of outside students. The decision had affected many students pursuing M.Phil through distance education from CDLU. While the admissions of a number of students got cancelled due to the decision, some got reprieve on moving to the court.

Following this, an atmosphere of uncertainty was prevailing over the validity of the course. Then, there were rumours about its continuation. So much so that even after attending personal contact programmes (PCPs) and completing other formalities, the students pursuing the course were not sure whether they would be able to complete it. It was in this context that the recently commenced exams gave the much-needed reassurance to the students. “I am feeling secure and relived as the exams have begun and are continuing in a smooth manner,” says a student after her first exam at the Lal Nath Hindu College for Women, here.

Not only the students, but even the CDLU authorities are satisfied with the final turn of events. “It is a matter of great relief and satisfaction for all of us that the clouds of uncertainty have vanished and the exams are going on well,” says Dr J.N. Sharma, joint director (distance education), CDLU.

Chandigarh, June 24
For promoting adventure sports and cultural activities among the youth, the Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Department (HSYAD) in collaboration with the Haryana Tourism Corporation, will organise Trekking Training Camps for girls and boys, separately, at Manali in Himachal Pradesh.

While giving this information here today, the Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Phool Chand Mullana said the trekking training camp for boys would be organised from June 27 to July 3 and for girls from July 3 to July 9.

The minister said an amount of about Rs 3 lakh would be spent on these camps. He said 40 girls would be selected from Ambala and Gurgaon Divisions and 40 boys would be selected from Rohtak and Hisar Divisions. He said the concerned sports officers had been directed to select the participants for these camps according to the fixed norms. The selected boys would report to Narender Kumar, adventure sports in-charge of the Haryana Tourism Corporation on June 27, while the girls would report on July 3 at Manali.

The Minister said the Sports and Youth Affairs Department had laid special focus on youth development activities and an amount of Rs 54 lakh had been spent during the last financial year. Moreover, a budget provision of Rs 90 lakh had been made for various youth welfare schemes.

Mullana said due to the efforts made by the present State Government, four youth of the State attended the Community Development Training Programme at Japan and one at China. He said Haryana is the pioneer State, where the National Youth Award winners got the free travelling facility in the Haryana Roadways buses throughout their life. As many as 28 youth of the State had been awarded with the National Youth Prize.

He said the artistes of the State performed very well in the 12th National Youth Festival organised by the Government of India and got the gold medal in folk music, sitar and one-act play competitions.

Ambala, June 24
Harijan Kalyan Nigam chairman and senior leader of the Haryana Congress Raj Kumar Balmiki today demanded the resignation of union minister Kumari Selja, who represents the Ambala parliamentary constituency, for “hatching a conspiracy against members of the SC (block-1)”.

Raj Kumar is a staunch supporter of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Supporters of Raj Kumar also burnt the effigy of Kumari Selja at Jagadhri gate in Ambala City. They raised slogans against the minister.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner. Municipal commissioner of Ambala City Gulshan Sonu was also present.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said a deputation of Anusoochit Jaati (block-1) Sangharsh Samiti would soon meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in this regard.

He said they would request Sonia to take action against Kumari Selja for hurting the sentiments of the Balmiki community.

He said during the regime of the Congress government in 1994, two separate reservations for A and B blocks of the SC were decided. Later, members of the A-block failed to get their due share in government jobs. Giving details of how members of the A-block had been neglected, he said before 1994, 147 class-I officers were recruited in Haryana, out of whom only 26 belonged to A-block.

Similarly, in class-II category, 399 SC candidates were recruited, out of whom 366 belonged to B- block.

In class III category, 18,414 SC candidates were offered jobs and only 2,075 A-block candidates were adjusted.

He alleged that the benefits of reservation were being reaped by a specific section of the SC.

They said the conspiracy of merger of A and B blocks would hit the interest of A-block.

He said the samiti had challenged the move in the Supreme Court. The Balmiki community was grateful to the chief minister who had offered to bear the expenses of lawyer of the Supreme Court engaged by the samiti, he added.

He demanded that reservation in educational institution should also be provided separately to A and B blocks. He threatened to take to roads if A-block continued to be discriminated against.