Jalandhar, September 11
Rejection of his close aide Ravi Mahendru’s name for the post of mayor has come as a setback to local body minister Manoranjan Kalia, considered to be the most powerful BJP man in the alliance government. This has made his rivals within and outside the party happy as they can not stop blaming Kalia for his troubles. “Ever since becoming the minister he has never even taken our calls,” they rue.

Kalia wanted district BJP secretary Ravi Mahendru to be the mayor but Navjot Singh Sidhu, MP, managed to wrest the seat for Rakesh Rathore. This has lowered Kalia’s prestige before the public and also in front of his party men.

Since formation of the new government seven months back, Kalia has achieved nothing but a prime portfolio in the cabinet. His name was also mooted for the post of deputy chief minister which has not been accepted till date despite repeated demands from party seniors.

The minister was not consulted when the Shiromani Akali Dal formulated Rs 5125.5-crore city development plans. An announcement to this effect was made by SAD working president Sukhbir Badal five days before the MC poll in the city. Kalia, who was not seen there, held a separate press conference and formulated a separate poll manifesto even as the combine fought together the civic elections. The fact that his manifesto hardly had any attraction was another major issue.

Kalia suffered again when none of the three candidates he openly favoured in the MC poll could win the seats for his party. His kin Shekhar Kalia from Ward 26, his close aide Gurbaksh Mintu from Ward 35 and Amarjit Singh Amri, brother of SAD district president Gurcharan Singh Channi, from Ward 30 lost the poll.

His position in the government has also suffered compared to previous local bodies minister Jagjit Singh who enjoyed the most powerful position after the Chief Minister in the Congress government. Jagjit Singh had the privilege of decision-making in the working of all civic bodies, including the MC, Improvement Trust (IT) and PUDA.

Despite a serious setback, Kalia has never showed any signs of tension or humiliation on his face. He has not been vocal over any issue and has been working in a docile manner, probably in a mood to accept the fate. He smiled back when asked yesterday why his recommendation for Mahendru was not accepted.

Nawanshahr, September 11
Chaudhary Santokh Singh, a former Congress minister, said he would raise the issue of setting up of a university at Khatkar Kalan, Nawanshahr, to commemorate the birth centenary of Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh with AICC chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Chaudhary was presiding over the installation ceremony function of the Aur block unit of the Punjab Youth Congress at Aur.

“It would be a real tribute to the great martyr as well as an inspiration to the youth. It would also enable the Doaba youth to get higher education at their doorstep so that they can face the challenges of the present era of globalisation,” said Chaudhary.

He exhorted the Youth Congress workers to strengthen their units at the grass-roots level to virtually convert the frontal organisation into a formidable force. The Youth Congress workers should exert their nerves for playing a vital role in launching a crusade against the social evils as well as to propagate the ideals, principles, policies, programmes and achievements of the Congress to mobilise public opinion, he said.

The electoral defeat faced by the Congress in the recent assembly poll, despite providing good governance coupled with unprecedented development in the state, was mainly due to the failure of the party workers, especially youth, in properly propagating the achievements of the government at the grass-roots level, he lamented.

The youth wing of the party should do some soul searching and beware of “black sheeps.” The workers, who had nothing to do with the party ideals and became members or office-bearers for just obtaining the identity cards for pursuing their own interests should be kept away from the party, said Chaudhary expressing his resentment over his defeat in the recent poll by a narrow margin.

Chaudhary, while making a scathing attack on the SAD-BJP government, said it had dragged the state into a fiscal mess in just six months. “The state government has been facing difficulty in paying the salaries to its employees, what to talk of carrying out development works. The Badal government has been surviving on the ‘support system’ provided by the Congress-led UPA government at the centre,” quipped Santokh Singh.

Rajwinder Singh Lucky, district Youth Congress president, Karambir Singh Uppal, newly appointed block president, Piaro, chairperson, block Samiti, and Charanjit Kataria, member, zila parishad also addressed the gathering.

Hoshiarpur, September 11
A traffic police constable was seriously injured when a motorcycle-borne youth, he had signalled to stop, sped away dragging the constable along. Sarabjit Singh was dragged by the motorcyclist for about 200 yards near the Government College crossing this afternoon when he signalled him to stop to show papers of the vehicle.

According to the police, Sarabjit Singh signalled the motorcycle-borne (DL-4-SEZ-5967) youth to stop but the accused, later identified as Ashant Sahni of Tagore Nagar, allegedly sped away.

In his attempt to stop him, Sarabjit Singh gripped the carrier of the motorcycle but Ashant Sahni dragged him to some distance, injuring him seriously.

He has been admitted to the local civil hospital. The police has registered a case under sections 332, 353, 186 and 279 of the IPC against the accused.

Jalandhar, September 11
Four girls allegedly stole Rs 1 lakh from a shopkeeper’s pocket at Basti Nau on Tuesday morning.

The girls came to the Sialkot sports shop sitauted at the Basti Nau locality of the city under the disguise of customers. The accused girls then asked the owner of the shop, Kasturi Lal, to show them some tennis balls.

As the victim was busy showing the girls various samples of tennis balls, the girls noticed bundles of currency notes in his pocket.

The bundles were in the denomination 100-rupee note. The total amount was Rs 1 lakh, Lal said. In his complaint to the police, Kasturi Lal said the girls began arguing with him and left the shop without buying anything.

Lal realised after half an hour that the girls had stolen Rs 1 lakh from his pocket. Jogi Raj, SHO of division number five, said the police was investigating the matter.