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Cong may bring in new faces
EC team coming today
Media should not twist news
Top BJP leaders to hold rallies on Dec 5
Cong, BJP dist unit chiefs after ticket
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BJP leaders slog for Shimla ticket
Lahaul-Spiti
Gobind Sagar ‘ideal’ for water sports
Teams participate in preliminary competitions of the 18th National Kayaking and Canoeing Championship in Gobind Sagar at Bilaspur on Friday.
— A Tribune photograph
Announcements only poll gimmicks: Dhumal
CD threat: Another plea filed in HC
Shanta rules out hung House
Kinnaur voter to find place in EC archive
BSP names 4 candidates
Plea to check misuse of shrines
35 jhuggis burnt
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Cong may bring in new faces
Shimla, November 16 According to sources, Mahajan, who has expressed his inability to contest from Chamba due to personal reasons, has been summoned to New Delhi ahead of the meeting of the screening committee scheduled for November 18. There are indications that the party may go for a wholesale change of candidates to counter the anti-incumbency factor and those facing the axe include ministers like Singhi Ram and Kudeep Kumar. Some sitting MLAs could be denied the ticket for their “poor performance”. The high command has asked each and every member of the state election committee to submit a list of candidates for all 65 constituencies. The lists have been consolidated for consideration by the screening committee. The candidates whose names figure in the maximum number of lists will stand a good chance of securing the ticket. Meanwhile, hectic lobbying is on for the ticket and aspirants have been camping in Delhi, meeting central leaders to muster support for their candidature. In all over 420 candidates have applied for the ticket. The Pradesh Election Committee, which met early this month, had authorised Sonia Gandhi to take the final decision regarding the ticket allotment. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is of the view that some senior leaders must opt out of the electoral fray to pave the way for new faces. He has already given indication that Singhi Ram will be denied the ticket and in all probability he will be replaced by Nand Lal, a police officer who once served in the security of late Rajiv Gandhi.
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EC team coming today
Shimla, November 16
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Media should not twist news
Shimla, November 16 Journalists today had to face many challenges and work under pressure and threats from various quarters. As such they needed to mould themselves according to the situation so as to come up to the expectations of the people. Public concerns and problems should also be highlighted on priority so that the impact of media could be well-realised. “Media should focus on accurate and correct flow of information and added that facts should not be twisted or distorted due to any bias,” he said. Commercialisation should not be the priority of any individual or organisation as it would only misguide the public at the cost of others. “The role of media in recent years has become very important as it has been instrumental in exposing many social evils,” he said. T.R. Sharma, Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, said the media should focus on investigative journalism and learn how to swim against the tide. News should be based on facts so that there is no distortion and the print and electronic media could build its credibility. Dinesh Malhotra, director, public relations, said intellectual atmosphere generated by the media considerably contributed to the understanding of society and legitimacy of the state. Journalism earlier meant serious business and a mission but gradually it had transformed into partial entertainment. BILASPUR: Mediapersons should come forward to play a constructive role in society by highlighting constructive news which would help faster growth and development while they should also acquire more and more of knowledge apart from ensuring accuracy of whatever they write or represent. Presiding over National Press Day organized by the district public relations officer here this morning, DC Devesh Kumar said journalists should strive continuously to maintain their credibility and should give facts as these are and should not mix their own opinion in the news story. He said journalists do have a right to write what they feel is good for the people, but it should not become part of a news item, which results in distortion of facts. as these are. Seminar was also addressed by journalists Jai Kumar, Arun Dogra, Kuldeep Chandel, Ratan Chand Nirjhar and Prof. Suresh Kumar Soni, Colonel Amba Prasad Gautam and DPRO Anand Sohar. Nurpur: The local press club organised a declamation contest on the occasion of National Press Day on Friday at Bachat Bhawan in which 18 participants of nine different government and private schools of the area participated. The function was presided over by SDM Inder Singh Bhardwaj. A jury of three judges adjudged Kanika Mahajan of Nurpur, Public School, Nurpur, Suman of BTC Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, Nurpur, and Tripta Devi of Government Senior Secondary School, Ladori, first, second and third respectively in the contest. The consolation prize was won by Chhavi Mahajan of Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School, Nurpur. The chief guest gave away cash prizes, trophies and certificates to the winners. The club had organised the contest in collaboration with Jyoti Hotel-cum-Restaurant, Kandwal. KULLU: National Press Day was celebrated on Friday and media persons had discussions on the topic “media as voice of the people, before and after independence”. ADM Vijay Chandan, here, presided over the function. He said the media had played an important role in the freedom movement before independence and making of India after the independence. He lauded the role of media in general and the Kullu Press in particular for playing a responsible role. The speakers during the celebrations said that media had a great responsibility in proving it to be the fourth pillar of democracy. They emphasised on responsible reporting along with keeping in view the ethics.
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Top BJP leaders to hold rallies on Dec 5
Shimla, November 16 Even though the BJP will formally kick start its election campaign at Mandi on November 18, where the national President, Rajnath Singh will address a rally, but it is after December 5 that the BJP will launch an aggressive campaign all over the state, spearheaded by national leaders. Senior national leaders will keep coming here for campaigning right till the polling day on December 18. Advani is likely to address an election rally at Kullu on December 5 while Rajnath will launch a scathing attack on the Congress at Solan, the same day. The three other leaders, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and Venkatah Naidu will address rallies on the same day at three other venues in the state. “The strategy is to adopt an aggressive posture against the Congress on the same day and then sustain the pressure till the polling day on December 18,” said a senior BJP leader. State leaders like Shanta Kumar, P.K. Dhumal and Jai Ram Thakur will be present at one of these five places with the central leaders. The central leadership of the party has been taking personal interest in chalking out the poll strategy. Barring the BJP, which had cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu campaign in the tribal seats, no other party had any leaders from outside Himachal for the first phase of polls. The national vice-president of the party, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, specially came to Shimla to review the campaign strategy. The party is undertaking aggressive BJP campaigning in the state to ensure that the party makes a comeback here with a thumping majority. So far, the state BJP leaders are working overtime to make the grand show at Mandi on November 18 a great success. Within a day or two of this rally, the state election committee of the BJP will meet to shortlist the names of candidates from the list of 546 applicants. It is either on November 22 or 23 that the central election committee will meet at Delhi and decided on the names after taking into consideration the reports submitted by the in charge of the four parliamentary constituencies. The BJP is keen that the entire list of party candidates for the 65 seats is issued in one go before the start of nominations on November 23. |
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Cong, BJP dist unit chiefs after ticket
Solan, November 16 Judging the mood of party workers, the BJP has taken a lead and its state in charge Satya Pal Jain recently announced that only non-MLAs would be given key posts like chairmanship of various boards and organisations, if voted to power. Out of the 10 district unit heads of the Congress, eight have applied for the party ticket. The district presidents of Bilaspur and Hamirpur were the only ones who had not applied for the party ticket. The list of party ticket-seekers includes Shanti Pundir from Solan, Rattan Singh from Sirmaur, Vidya Sagar from Shimla (rural), Arun Sharma from Shimla (urban), BBL Butail from Kangra, D.D. Thakur from Mandi, Ranvir Rana from Una, Ishwar Dass from Kullu and Surinder Bhardwaj from Chamba. In the BJP, nine district presidents had applied for the party ticket and Bilaspur was the lone district where that trend was not visible. The ticket contenders include Rood Dass from Shimla, Baldev Bhandari from Sirmaur, Virender Kanwar from Una, Vipan Parmar from Kangra, Baldev Sharma from Hamirpur, Mohan Lal from Chamba, Khimi Ram from Kullu, Col Inder Singh from Mandi and H.N. Saini from Solan. Even state president of the party Jairam Thakur was among the ticket-seekers. While the Congress has three sitting MLAs from among district presidents, the BJP has four. Political observers feel the trend is indicative of the rising discontent among the organisational workers that are rarely rewarded for their services to the party. While the key posts of board and corporation chairmen are bagged by MLAs, there is little gain for dedicated party workers. |
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BJP leaders slog for Shimla ticket
Shimla, November 16 Eighteen persons have applied for the BJP ticket from the Shimla constituency. Suresh Bhardwaj, Rajya Sabha member and former state party chief, Khushi Ram Balnatah and Ganesh Dutt, who lost in 2003, are among the main contenders for the ticket. The Shimla seat was traditionally a BJP stronghold with former education minister Daulat Ram Chauhan winning four consecutive elections in 1967, 1972, 1977 and 1982. The seat was wrested by the Congress in 1985 as Daulat Ram was denied the ticket as he had been unseated due an election petition. Harbhajan Singh Bhajji of the Congress defeated Radha Raman Shastri in the 1985. Ever since, the BJP has been able to win the seat only twice, in 1990 and 1998, when former horticulture minister Narinder Bragta won from Shimla. Ganesh Dutt lost the election in 2003 with a margin of 2,670 votes. Majority of the BJP leaders who have contested the election from Shimla later shifted to other seats like
Chopal, Jubbal Kotkhai and Rohru. Bragta, who won two elections from Shimla, later shifted to Jubbal Kotkhai and has applied for the ticket from there. Similarly, Shastri, after contesting he election from Shimla in 1985, moved to Chopal from where he is a strong contender for the party ticket. Suresh Bhardwaj and Khushi Ram Balnatah belong to Rohru but with Virbhadra Singh contesting from there, they have applied from Shimla as there is little chance of winning against the Chief Minister. Bhardwaj, whose membership of the Rajya Sabha would end in April, 2008, is a strong contender. Party leaders and BJP workers themselves can be heard saying that whenever there are favourable conditions for the party, the list of contenders from Shimla gets long and this time also 18 persons have applied. Others who have applied from Shimla include Ashok
Kapatai, Vimla Kashyap, Sanjeev Sharma, Shubh Mahajan, Ashok Sood, Deshbandhu Sood and Balbir Kanwar. |
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BSP may play spoilsport
Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service
Keylong, November 16 As per inputs gathered by this correspondent from voters, candidates and experts, the main contest has emerged between BJP candidate Ramlal Markandae and Congress candidate Phunchog Rai. Birsingh Rawal could at best play a spoilsport for the Congress and the BJP. Although “eleven BJP men” had resigned in protest against the allotment of party ticket to Markandae, he continues to enjoy an edge in the lower Pattan valley, Buddhist-dominated Mayar valley, middle-belt of Lahaul valley, giving a heady time to both Rai and Rawal. The eleven leaders of the BJP had openly supported Rai, but it remains to be seen as to how successful they have been in making a dent in the otherwise strong base of Pattan-Udaipur-Mayar belt. The Udaipur block, the main support base of the BJP, recorded around 65 per cent polling that has now left the BJP a worried lot as most of the disgruntled BJP leaders who resigned come from this block, party inputs revealed. Lahaul block also recorded over 68 per cent polling where the BJP is well placed. The Congress expected to make up for the loss from Spiti, but this time the BJP has dented the Congress vote bank as “Buddhist factor” did not work in favour of Rai as the Congress has expected, sourced said. The Congress is expecting a lead of 1,500-2,000 votes in Spiti, while the BJP is expecting a lead of 1,000 votes in Lahaul and 3,000 in Udaipur, sources said. But the BSP is expecting a lead in both Udaipur and Lahaul.
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Gobind Sagar ‘ideal’ for water sports
Bilaspur, November 16 Inaugurating the four-day 18th National Kayaking and Canoeing championship at Luhanu Ghat of Gobind Sagar here today Kohli said this would not only help in faster development of adventure tourism here but it would also encourage Himachal youths to come forward and take interest in adventurous sports. Organising committee chairman-cum-deputy commissioner Devesh Kumar welcomed the competitors who had come from far off places like Kerala and Tamil Nadu and said 25 teams drawn from various states of the country and also from, Indian Armed forces, Indian Navy, BSF and ITBP, including women teams were participating in the national event. He thanked state association president Raja Kamla Singh for selecting Gobind Sagar and Bilaspur town as venue for this prestigious national event. Association state general secretary Dr. P. S. Guleria also addressed the function. |
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Announcements only poll gimmicks: Dhumal
Shimla, November 16 In a statement issued here, Dhumal said the Chief Minister had made a lot of announcements merely as election gimmicks without making budgetary provisions. “Had the Congress regime been sincere about the underprivileged sections of society it could have made the necessary budgetary provision and then increased pension and the daily wage,” he said. Dhumal said all these announcements were nothing but a cruel joke with the poor and the needy with an eye on the elections. “Similarly, the opening of educational institutions without budgetary provision is also an example of the frustration of the Congress,” he said. He said a degree college had been opened at Killar in Pangi which did not have any principal or lecturer as only seven peons had been posted there so far. Dhumal also lashed out at the government for violating the model code of conduct as it had issued 51 schemes in the PWD and 59 in the IPH Department on October 17 after the announcement of the elections. “It is not the BJP but the Congress which is threatening the employees and all that we have said is that the officials must act impartially,” he said. He appealed to the people to vote for the BJP to ensure overall development of the state without any regional bias. |
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CD threat: Another plea filed in HC
Shimla, November 16 The petitioner urged the court to direct Mankotia to hand over the indiscriminate material to the police which were in his possession. The petitioner further urged in his petition that if no material existed as it being alleged by him then appropriate proceedings be initiated against him and if in case there was sufficient incriminating material, then also appropriate proceedings be initiated against him for withholding the same. The petitioner stated in the petition that recently Mankotia had made a statement before the press that he was in the possession of indiscriminating material. The said incriminating material pertained to corruption amongst certain highly placed individual holding public offices. The non disclosure of an offence of such material which exhibited a commission of a cognizable offence was in itself an offence. Recently a Congress leader had also filed a petition in the high court for restraining Mankotia form releasing any such kind of CD. Both petitions are likely to come up for hearing on Monday.
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Mandi, November 16 Addressing a press conference here, he said the party would form the next government in the state with a two-thirds majority after humbling the ruling Congress. Shanta Kumar promised that the party would provide a clean, efficient and a transparent administration. Claiming that the people of the three tribal constituencies, where polling was held in the first phase yesterday, had overwhelmingly voted against the Congress government, he said a huge voter turnout was not good news for it. The BJP would raise the issues of widespread corruption, rising prices of essential commodities and huge numbers of unemployed youth in the state during the second phase of elections on December 19, he said. About the presence of the BSP in the elections, the BJP leader said there was no room for the so-called third force. — UNI
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Kinnaur voter to find place in EC archive
Shimla, November 16 Shyam Saran (91), a voter of Chini village now called Kalpa, has the distinction of exercising franchise in the then called Chini village of Kinnaur district in the first general election in Independent india in 1951. On the instructions of the EC, the district administration prepared a video CD of Saran. Saran, a retired school teacher, cast his vote at Kalpa polling station day before yesterday in the voting for Kinnaur ST seat, chief electoral officer Manisha Nanda said. Saran, a father of nine children, boasts of his long innings in the Indian electoral democracy.
— PTI |
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BSP names 4 candidates
Nahan, November 16 Sending shock waves in the Congress camp, they announced party ticket for Shillai constituency to Raksha Negi, daughter-in-law of Lal Singh Negi, Senior Congress leader of Shillai. From Pacchad, ticket was announced to Prakash Bhatia who was a close aid of Congress leader G. R. Musafir and had recently resigned from the government service to contest election. Prithi Singh for Renuka and name of Cooperative Bank director Manjinder Singh Vikka has been decided for the BSP candidate from Paonta-Doon constituency. Leaders refused to reveal name of party candidate for Nahan constituency at this stage. Nearly five leaders of the Nahan area are aspirants for the BSP ticket. |
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Plea to check misuse of shrines
Chamba, November 16 Pinpointing the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the Durga Vahini and the RSS, which are the allied organisations of the BJP, he alleged these organisations were running their offices in religious places, schools and dharamshalas. |
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35 jhuggis burnt
Solan, November 16 The SDM had directed the Nalagarh tehsildar Baldev Sharma to assess the loss so as to enable them to initiate relief work. The tehsildar said no cause of fire had been detected till now. Though the fire officials have put the actual number of jhuggis burnt at 45 but the administration has assessed the loss at 35. The police later registered a case of negligence. |
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Driver killed in mishap
Mandi, November 16 |
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Bilaspur, November 16
