Mandi, November 18
BJP national president Rajanth Singh said here today that the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre had mortgaged “sovereignty of the country” through the nuclear deal with the USA. He claimed the Opposition was not taken into confidence on the issue. He said the government had hurt religious sentiments of the Hindus by denying the existence of Lord Ram in connection with the Ram Setu issue.

Addressing the Yuva Garjna rally at the historic Paddal Maidan here today, he said the 50-year Congress rule at the Centre had led to erosion of people’s faith in politicians. He urged the people to vote out the Congress on December 19.

He said it was during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime that India exhibited its self-pride by conducting nuclear test, while Congress Prime Minister Narsinma Rao had bowed before the threats of the USA before that. “BJP stands for politics based on moral principles. It does not believe in politics of caste and religion, but the Congress is bent on dividing the country on the basis of religion by giving reservation on the basis of religion to the Muslims. The BJP favours reservation on the basis of economic criterion and not religion and caste,” he claimed.

He said the party was on the comeback trail in the country. “It leads governments in 10 states and is also about to take over Himachal,” he claimed.

He said the terrorists had stated raising their head again after the Congress government withdrew POTA. The UPA government had also failed to control prices of essential commodities, he added.

Like earlier speakers national president Shanta Kumar, former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Rajnath Singh also did not take up the audio CD issue. However, he said Rs 1.5 crore was spotted in the CM’s office that pointed an accusing finger on the Virbhadra Singh.

He said most of the promises made by the Congress had not been fulfilled. He claimed BJP CMs Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal were better CMs than Virbhadra Singh.

Attacking UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for her statement that they had no magic wand to control rising prices, Shanta Kumar claimed the BJP had controlled prices, launched PM Sarak Nirman Yojna that linked remote areas to the mainstream, launched Antodaya Yojna benefiting over 10 crore poorest of poor in the country, ensured royalty on power projects equal to 12 per cent free power that was yielding Rs 1,464 crore every year to state, provided drinking water to villagers and all this was done without any “jadu ki chhari”.

Criticising Virbhadra Singh government, Prem Kumar Dumal said roads were in bad shape in the state and all developmental works had come to halt. “The youth are frustrated as the Congress promise of giving jobs to them has fallen flat. It has given just 4,622 jobs in the government sector and 9,000 in the private sector during its regime.

Yuva Morcha chief Amit Thakkar, party affairs in charge Satya Pal Jain, party chief Jai Ram Thakur and O.P. Dhankar also spoke on the occasion.

Nurpur, November 18
Representatives of Gujjars yesterday constituted a state-level Gujjar Samaj Kalyan Sabha (GSKS) and framed its Assembly agenda relating to their demands. They resolved to extend support a political party which accepted its election agenda.

M. Kalu Deen from Kangra, Noor Mohammad from Rohru (Shimla) and Hassan Deen from Chamba were elected president, senior vice-president and general secretary, respectively, of the GSKS.

The sabha prepared a 16-point election agenda seeking, among other things, constitutional status for the Gujjar Kalyan Board, land to landless Gujjars for their rehabilitation, reservation on the basis of Gujjar population, government jobs for educated Gujjars, stoppage of representation of non-Himachalis into the state Waqf Board, state Haz committee and the Minorities Finance and Development Corporation, giving of ownership rights to at least five bighas of land in grasslands in the state and appoint Urdu teachers in government schools from Gujjar community by imparting special training to them on the pattern of language teachers. 

Solan, November 18
Acting on media reports highlighting the use of red light atop an official gypsy by MP D.R. Shandil, the district administration on Thursday directed the SDM to conduct an inquiry. A written complain about the misuse was also made by the BJP to the district administration.

Confirming the receipt of this complaint, ADC Lokender Chauhan said the SDM had been directed to inquire into the matter and furnish a report. The tehsildaar was later directed to record statements of BJP leaders, Solan mandal, general secretary Pawan Gupta, vice-president of district unit of Yuva Morcha Tirtha Nand, former vice-president of Solan mandal Inder Singh Mehta and Netar Singh executive member of the Solan mandal.

Pawan Gupta, who is one of the complainant said since the MP had used the occasion to campaign in favour of the Congress, it was objectionable as it was tantamount to violation of the model code of conduct. The district administration would initiate an action after the receipt of this report.

Nahan, November 18
The election code has forced the organisers of the Renuka fair not to invite any political leader to inaugurate this event. It is for the first time in the past decade that the Chief Minister will not preside over the inaugural ceremony of the fair. The fair would commence on November 20 and conclude on November 24.

Governor of Himachal Pradesh V.S. Kokje will preside over the closing ceremony of the fair. He would also participate in the departure ceremony of palanquin of Lord Parshuram and other deities on the bank of the holy lake.

Around 12 lakh devotees visits this fair to pay obeisance to Bhagwati Renuka, Lord Parshuram and take a holy dip in the lake.

Saints from every parts of country have reached Renukaji. Elaborate security arrangements have been made to meet any eventuality.

Solan, November 18
Despite registering the highest SC population growth of 30.27 per cent in this district the BSP appears to have made no impact in the political scenario of the key Solan constituency. The high SC population led the Delimitation Commission to declare Solan as its 17th reserve constituency of the state. This has, however, remained un-implemented this time due to the sudden announcement of elections. The district currently has the lone reserved constituency of Kasauli and this number will rise to two in the next Assembly elections if the new delimitation notification is implemented.

The BSP could barely field one candidate in the reserved Kasauli constituency in the last Assembly elections where it could poll only 1.99 per cent votes. Not only was the candidate’s security forfeited but the party could also field no other candidate in any constituency of the district. No BSP candidate was fielded even in the 1998 Assembly poll. The party is yet to make its presence felt as no strong contender has come forward to join the party till now.

Though some disgruntled political leaders from the BJP like Vinod Thakur, a former chairman of the Marketing Board, has joined the BSP and is aspiring for the Nalagarh ticket, councillor Roop Chand from Solan, Darshan Singh Saini, representing the dominant Saini community from Doon, are some of the other ticket aspirants.

The BJP is likely to field its two-time MLA Rajiv Bindal while the Congress may field a new face. The gain would, however, be limited to merely one term as the constituency would be reserved in the next Assembly poll. This has led to a high number of ticket contenders from this constituency in both key parties.

Despite the presence of a large number of SC population no political leader having a sizeable influence has joined the BSP till now and it has, therefore, failed to make its presence felt here. Sources, however, said search was on and there were chances that after the ticket allotment disgruntled leaders from either party could opt for the BSP. Party sources, however, said that the nominations would be allotted by November 15.

Political observes feel that the SC cadres here have remained the traditional vote-bank of the Congress which has always respected their presence. Senior leaders from the district like late K.D.Sultanpuri, who held an unbeaten record of remaining an MP for six consecutive terms, always held key positions in the Congress. Even when he was denied the Assembly ticket in the 2003 poll he was made chairman of the 20-point programme committee. Other senior leaders like G.R.Musafir, who is the present Speaker and a former minister, are among other SC leaders of the region who managed to consolidate their community votes. Therefore, there was never any cause for being ignored and the masses generally remained loyal to the Congress.

With this interesting scenario there was little the BSP could gain from the constituency.

Mandi, November 18
With the Congress and the BJP making all-out efforts to woo the voters, Mandi district with 10 seats, the second highest after 16-member Kangra district, has emerged a "new centre of power" between the two parties in their bid to form the next government.

The Congress government has already announced the setting up of a government medical college, besides having set up an engineering college at Sundernager, in its bid to keep its "traditional electorate intact".

The November 18 biggest-ever BJP "youth rally" is aimed at wooing not only the youth in the central region but also to make a dent into the Mandi region, a traditional stronghold of the Congress.

The BJP has tried to cut into the Congress clout by electing Jai Ram Thakur, MLA from Chachiot in this district, as the state unit president for the first time. According to party sources, Jai Ram's appointment as the party president was a conscious decision made by top BJP strategists as the battle for party leadership between former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and former union minister Shanta Kumar had concentrated the party's political fortunes in the Hamirpur-Kangra region, its traditional stronghold. But central region, which is quite crucial to form the government at Shimla, was ignored by the BJP, revealed sources.

As all Congress CMs have been from the Shimla-Sirmaur region( Late Dr Y. S. Parmar from Sirmaur, Late Thakur Ram Lal and now CM Virbhadra Singh from Shimla district), the BJP has been playing the "card of regional discrimination" with some success by propagating that the "Congress CMs always come from the Shimla region while Kangra and Mandi have been ignored.

Besides the "Youth rally" it is part of the BJP's strategy not to announce the CM candidate in advance as the party is playing up Jai Ram Thakur as the potential candidate from the central region just to gain political mileage in the district.

In the same way, the party is trying to gain mileage in Hamirpur by giving free run to Dhumal, with Shanta holding the fort in Kangra-Chamba. The party is also hoping to gain in the Shimla region from this strategy as it will be the game of numbers this time with the BSP in the fray, which can upset the chances of both parties.

The Congress has also realised the political significance of Mandi. The party high command retained the two Cabinet rank ministers- IPH minister Thakur Kaul Singh and excise and taxation minister Rangila Ram Rao- when the downsizing exercise was carried out three years ago.

The party sacrificed the three ministers from the politically sensitive Kangra region which later culminated into a political outcry raised by Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, who joined the BSP to lead it from the front against Congress CM Virbhadra Singh.

Solan, November 18
With many senior Congress leaders opting out of electoral politics, a number of young leaders are hopeful of obtaining the ticket. The hope of youth leaders draws strength from the fact that their all-India in charge Rahul Gandhi had recently announced that the youth were feeling ignored in the party and they needed adequate representation.

A perusal of the list of ticket contenders in the congress reveals that a number of youth Congress office-bearers had applied. This includes a number of general secretaries of the state Youth Congress, including Namita Roshan Lal, who is vying for a ticket from Kasauli, Sanjay Awasthi from Solan, Rajesh Dharmani from Ghumarin, Chandershekhar from Dharampur (Mandi), Ajay Solanki from Nahan, NSUI state president Kewal Singh Pathania, among others.

With more than 65 per cent of the electorate in the state comprising youth, the younger generation of Congressmen hope to cash in on their voter share. These Assembly elections have drawn curtains on the political careers of a number of senior Congress leaders, including revenue minister Sat Mahajan, agriculture minister Raj Krishan Gaur, food and civil supplies minister Singi Ram and a few others.

Unlike the BJP, the Congress had failed to evolve its second line of leadership and most of the senior leaders like the B.B.L. Butail, Vidya Stokes, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Raj Krishan Gaur, etc., are more than 70 years of age.

The BJP, on the other hand, has given much prominence to youth leaders, including their state president Jai Ram Thakur and vice-president Dr Rajiv Bindal.

Advocating the demand for more seats for young leaders, state youth Congress president Sukhwinder Singh opined that though he was not in favour of reservation for a specific number of seats, but there were quite a few deserving candidates, who were capable of winning the seats.

Since these candidates possess all qualities of a good politician, including sincerity, transparency and morality, they needed to be groomed as future leaders.

He added that the youth leaders were not only better organised but were capable of leading the masses.

Palampur, November 18
Palampur is facing traffic snarls these days.

Although the Holta bypass has become fully operational, plying of heavy vehicles via Palampur town has not been banned. This results in frequent traffic jams in the town. The narrow Pathankot-Mandi national highway adds to traffic woes.

Earlier, the administration had ordered the diversions of heavy vehicles towards Holta bypass. However, the order was later withdrawn and these vehicles were again allowed through the town, causing inconvenience to the residents.

There has been manifold increase in the number of heavy and light vehicles in the town, but the width of most of roads is the same as it was 25 years ago. Obviously, traffic jams have become a regular feature in the town. During peak hours, it takes very long time to cover even a small distance. Increasing political interference in the functioning of the police has made the matters worse.

The population of the town has increased from 5,000 to 35,000 over the past 10 years. A number of new housing colonies have come up in and around the town, but no new roads have been laid. Though proposals were mooted on many times to widen these roads, these have remained confined to official files so far.

The decision of the MC to grant permission to vendors and fruit sellers to operate along the national highway near bus stand has aggravated the traffic situation.

As there are no notified parking lots in the town, light and heavy vehicles remain parked on the roadside.

DSP K.C. Sharma says 12 traffic constables have been deployed in different parts of the town to regulate traffic, but narrow roads and wrong parking has been posing problems to the police. He says town needs a bypass soon, otherwise it will become very difficult to manage traffic in the town.

Shimla, November 18
The decision of the Election Commission to conduct poll in the three tribal Assembly constituencies ahead of the rest of the state has not made any difference in the voter turnout.

The final figures of polling indicate that the percentage of voters who cast their votes was almost the same in Kinnaur and slightly lower in Bharmour and Lahaul -Spiti in comparison to the last two elections when polling in the three segments took place in June after the formation of the government. Kinnaur recorded 70.98 per cent polling as against 72.38 per cent in 2003 and 72.43 per cent in 1998.

In Lahaul-Spiti the turnout was marginally lower with 73.44 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise as against 77.77 per cent in 2003 and 73.51 in 1998. In the Lahaul valley which accounts for over 15,000 of the total 22,000 electorate the polling was 71.12 per cent and Spiti 77.37 per cent.

However, in Bharmour only 69 per cent votes were polled as compared to 73.56 per cent in 2003 and 73.76 in 1998. The Pangi valley and the Bharmour valley recorded 76.36 per cent and 67 per cent polling, respectively.

However, the turnout is higher compared to the 1993 Assembly poll when elections were held in November in the entire state simultaneously.

Kinnaur had then recorded a turnout of 66.83 per cent, Lahaul-Spiti (63.06 per cent) and Bharmour (61.51 per cent).

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that people of the tribal area were not much enthused by the fact that the representative they elect would have a role in formation of the new government.

Dharamsala, November 18
Will the BSP emerge as serious contender for attaining power in the state?

Keeping in view the social engineering formula steered by its leaders across the state, it has clearly come in a position to upset calculations of both the Congress and the BJP in certain pockets.

For the past over 25 years, it has almost been a friendly game between the Congress and the BJP with these parties wresting power on alternate occasion. Sukh Ram, after parting ways with the Congress, tried to form a third force in the state. He not only failed to do so, but also struggled for his political 
survival.

Even Sukh Ram could not stand up against the Congress and the BJP. Ultimately, he had to return back to his parent party and now he is demanding the Congress ticket for his son saying goodbye to electoral politics.

The BSP has projected Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, a former Congress man, as its candidate for the post of Chief Minister. He talks of corruption by Virbhadra Singh and BJP stalwart Prem Kumar Dhumal and projects her party leader Mayawati as the future Prime Minister of the country. He attracts good crowd for BSP rallies, but these gatherings do not in any way match the gatherings for the rallies of Virbhadra Singh, Prem Kumar Dhumal or Shanta Kumar, except for certain pockets in Kangra and Una districts.

The personal image of individual candidates is likely to be a major factor to influence the voters. The Congress and the BJP have no dearth of leaders at the local level who hold personal influence in their areas, but the BSP has few such leaders.

Political observers feel Mayawati or Mankotia alone cannot change the entire scene in the state politics in a short period. By including Rajputs and Brahmins in the party, BSP leaders are trying to give a signal that they now want to shed the tag of a Dalit party.

Moreover, there are still some doubts whether Mankotia will contest the elections or not? So far, he has not opened his cards. He realizes that polarisation of votes in favour of one party is not possible in Kangra district, which has been a stronghold of both the Congress and the BJP. This is the reason that he himself may even skip from contesting the elections.

If Mankotia plans to contest the election from either Shahpur or Dharamsala, he may not be able to get out of his constituency to canvass for other party candidates in the state. And if he does not contest the elections, it will give a wrong message to the public.

Obviously, it is going to be an interesting political fight for the BSP in the Assembly elections this time.

Meanwhile, the BSP’s promise to declare Dharamsala as the winter capital of the state has not come as a surprise for the Congress and the BJP. However, it will definitely force the leaderships of these parties to rethink their poll strategy as regards lower hill areas.

The Congress government got constructed a building of the Vidhan Sabha at Dharamsala to hold the winter session of the Assembly. Virbhadra Singh kept his date with Dharamsala for annual winter sojourn and also made it a point to hold at least one Cabinet meeting here.

Leaders of both the BJP and the BSP were of the view that until and unless the whole administrative set-up was shifted here, the files related to routine works could not be processed at local level.

Even as an HAS officer designated as special secretary to the Chief Minister had been posted here, his job has been merely to peruse and send files to the Chief Minister’s office at Shimla. The office does not have even a computer to facilitate easy transfer of various cases through email. Moreover, the officer sitting had always held dual charge, making it virtually impossible for him to regularly sit in his office.

Now it remains to be seen whether the Congress and the BJP will include this issue in their election manifestoes like the 
BSP or not.

Chamba, November 18
Residents of Churah and Bharmour tehsils have reiterated their long-pending demand for bifurcation of Chamba electrical division of the HPSEB into a division each for the two tehsils.

One of the largest HPSEB divisions this has been covering Chamba, Churah and Bharmour tehsil territories for the past about 30 years, catering to three Assembly constituencies - Chamba, Bharmour and Rajnagar-- besides a part of the Bhattiyat Assembly constituency having four development blocks - Chamba, Mehla, Bharmour and Tissa.

Burdened with a huge workload, the division is facing an acute shortage of staff.

The Alpine Region Welfare Council and the Churah Mukti Morcha have asked the government to bifurcate this division in the light of vast expansion of the electricity network.

The government had earlier mooted a proposal to bifurcate this division by creating one with its headquarters at Salooni some time ago but the proposal was put into the cold storage.

According to official sources, the division consisting of six subdivisions is catering to about 55,000 electricity consumers, besides looking after the ‘Accelerated Power Development Reforms Project. 

Nahan, November 18
Expressing his anger for neglecting issues regarding the farmers’community post-independence, state president of the state Bharatiya Kissan Union (BKU), Sukhdev Singh Gill, at a press conference yesterday appealed to all political parties to put issues related to farmers on top of their political agenda.

He said the BKU would issue directions to farmers to support that political party in the ensuing Assembly poll who would put issues related to the welfare of farmers on top of their manifestoes. He warned that parties ignoring farmers’ interests would have to face a tough time in the elections.

He said the state government had failed to address the problems of farmers and fruit growers in the state.

He said in Sirmaur district, ginger, was being continuously destroyed by the ginger rotten disease since the past 35 years. He demanded help to ginger growers on the apple pattern and the opening of two research centres in the area under the control of Palampur Agriculture University and Horticulture and Forestry University, Nauni, to save ginger growers from ruining their crop.

He said similarly, sugarcane crop was being affected in Paonta valley and there was no agency to purchase their produce. He demanded opening of a sugar mill at Paonta.

Gill said funds allocated for the agriculture sector in the Five Year Plans had reduced to 12 per cent from 24 per cent during the past 60 years.

He said the government was forcibly acquiring agricultural land for non-agriculture purpose like SEZs and other activities run by big industrial houses on throwaway prices.

Shimla, November 18
The craze for remix and other forms of popular music is only transitory but classical music is for all times and there is no threat to its survival, asserts renowned exponent of Hindustani classical music and ghazal and playback singer Suresh Wadkar.

The various forms of music in the country are largely rooted in classical music. Proper grounding in classical music comes in handy for mastering any kind of Indian music, film playback singing, said Wadkar, who is in the city to perform at a live concert being jointly organised by the Indian Music Academy in collaboration with Idea Cellular Limited.

Classical music is the very foundation of varied genres of Indian music and an encouraging development was that more and more musicians of the new generations were becoming aware of this ground reality. Not surprisingly they were very keen to learn classical music.

He did not find anything wrong with the system of SMS voting for selecting the best singer being followed in various television shows. Wadkar has been involved in training and guiding young singers and is the proud guru of many accomplished singers. It was his passion to promote classical music among young singers that motivated him to associate himself with the Indian Music Academy (IMA) set up by legendary classical singer Pandit Jasraj.

Trained under the tutelage of Acharya Jiyalal Vasant, Suresh got exposure to the stage through his Sangeet Niketan. During this period he also perfected the art of tabla playing. Later he also learnt to play sitar and kathak dance.

Durga Jasraj, director of the IMA, said the objective of her academy was to provide a platform to emerging artists to perform, arouse interest in classical music and bridge the “musical” generation gap by making the next generation appreciate classical music. She said the academy last year held concerts in 12 cities and this year it would organise 24 concerts in 22 cities across the country.

Shimla, November 18
The body of unidentified young woman was found from Hotel Ashirwad in Lakkar Bazar this afternoon.

The victim had checked into the hotel on November 16 with a man who entered his name as Manoj Kumar from Guwahati as husband and wife. The hotel employees called the police after they found that the room in which they were staying was locked from inside and there was no response despite persistent knocking.

The police found that the woman was lying on the floor of the room and she had vomited before death. The man with whom she had come was not in the room and apparently he had gone away.

Superintendent of police A.P.Singh said the exact cause of death would be known only after autopsy and examination of viscera. There were no external injuries on the body. The possibility of suicide could not be ruled out.

A case has been registered. Efforts were on to establish the identify of the deceased and the man she had come with.