Shimla, December 6
With the promise of making Himachal a power and tourism state, the BJP today released its election manifesto with thrust on creating employment opportunities, quality education, diversification in agriculture and horticulture, women empowerment and better roads and clean drinking water.

Trying to project a united face of the party, both P.K. Dhumal and Shanta Kumar were present on the occasion on the release of the BJP election manifesto by state party chief Jai Ram Thakur here today. Vice-president of the party Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and in charge of party affairs in Himachal Satya Pal Jain were also present.

The party promises to provide a clean, transparent and efficient administration. The party has promised complete transparency in recruitment with no discrimination or corruption.

The manifesto talks of taking care of all sections of society as the interests of employees, women, unemployed youth, farmers, ex-servicemen and workers in the unorganised sector have been taken care of in the document.

In order to make Himachal a power state, there are plans to harness 12,000 MW by 2012. In order to give a boost to tourism a master plan will be prepared for installing ropeways by involving the private sector.

The manifesto has a lot for over 3 lakh employees, who constitute a sizeable chunk of the electorate.

The BJP has promised a transparent transfer policy to avoid unnecessary harassment to any employee along with promise of giving maximum benefits of the Sixth Pay Commission of Punjab to both employees and pensioners.

The document promises to formulate a transparent policy to regularise the services of daily wagers, part-time, ad hoc and contractual workers. The BJP promises to link the daily wages to the inflation rate.

Special care has been taken to woo women voters as the BJP has promised to provide 50 per cent reservation to the fair sex in panchayati raj and local bodies as a step towards their empowerment.

They will get a special holiday on “karva chauth” and “raksha bandhan”, with free travel in state-owned buses on rakhi.

For 10 lakh unemployed educated youth there is talk of creating employment opportunities through tourism and hydro-power generation.

Besides ensuring quality education, thrust will be on vocational and technical education.

As far as farmers and fruit growers is concerned there is talk of crop diversification with promises of providing remunerative prices by way of market mediation schemes and support price.

Reservation as per norms has been promised to persons with disability.

The manifesto also talks of declaring main roads as national highways and provision of clean drinking water.

Interestingly, there is mention of making education Bharat centric with plans of replacing sex education with yoga education.

The manifesto promises a lot for ex-servicemen for whom employment opportunities will be created.

Efforts will be made to set up separate health centres and CSD canteens for them at district headquarters. 

Hamirpur, December 6
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has countered the former chief minister P.K. Dhumal’s demand of filing affidavit by him in the CD episode. 

Talking to mediapersons here today the Chief Minister said “It is for the Dhumal and others who are making the CD an issue to prove that it contains my voice and thus I do not have to file an affidavit in the court but they have to file affidavits to prove it.”

The Chief Minister alleged “This was a conspiracy hatched by Dhumal or how come it was being played during the Hamirpur byelection at many places with in half-an-hour of its release by Mankotia at Dharamsala”?

He said “Several BJP leaders have been involved in corruption cases and he is surprised that Suresh Chandel involved in the cash for query scam was not expelled by the party and is engaged in the election campaign.”

Talking about the issue of price rise being raised by the opposition Virbhadra said “The state government has provided a subsidy of 134 crore for giving cheap ration to every section of society through the PDS and rumours were spread that this would stop after the Hamirpur byelection but it would continue even after the election.” Clarifying the issue of the World Bank loan Virbhadra said “ Rs 900-crore loan has been taken from the World Bank to create super highways in the state and out of this Rs 800 crore would be an out right grant given by the Central government and only 100 crore is to be paid back in 25 years.”

Replying to a question he said “It is absolutely wrong that S.M. Katwal has fallen victim to political vendetta; he has been convicted and imprisoned by the court in different cases and Dhumal owes moral responsibility for irregularities in the HP Subordinate Service Selection Board.”

He also gave details of the development made in the different fields during the present regime. 

Shimla, December 6
Virtually scoffing at the BJP campaign, AICC general secretary R.K. Dhawan said today the national leaders led by L. K. Advani, who addressed a series of rallies failed to leave any impact on the people as they raised issues on which their own leadership was on a weak wicket.

Addressing a press conference here he said it was amusing to see the BJP making corruption issue its poll plank, conveniently forgetting that its chief ministerial candidate P.K.Dhumal had been accused of corruption by his own ministers during his earlier term as the Chief Minister. The party whose leaders were tainted in the eyes of their own partymen had no moral right to raise an accusing finger on others.

The BJP leaders had been making much of the Congress strategy not to project any leader and trying to take credit for having declared Dhumal as its leader but the tragedy of the party was that it was leaderless at the national level and there was utter confusion.

The BJP was holding out a promise to increase the representation to women in the Panchayati Raj institutions and local bodies from 30 to 50 per cent but the harsh reality was that it did nothing for them. It was late Rajiv Gandhi, who provided 30 per cent reservation to women. Obviously, the party leaders were raising issues just for the sake of it, there was no conviction or substance in what they were saying, he said.

The Congress was seeking votes on the basis of its achievements on the development front. Himachal Pradesh had done well in all spheres and it had emerged as a top state among the hill states in the country.The Virbhadra Singh regime provided government jobs to over 80,000 persons and to another 3.5 lakh persons in the industrial and hydro power sectors. It made it mandatory for the private sector to provide 70 per cent jobs to the local people., he said.

Dharamsala: State Congress president and Rajya Sabha member Viplove Thakur on Thursday dubbed the BJP rallies held in various parts of state on Wednesday as flop shows as the party had failed to attract a good number of people to these meetings. “The BJP is gripped deeply with infighting as a result of which only hardcore BJP workers were present in their rallies and not the common public”, she said.

BJP leaders were raising unnecessary issues with the sole motive to woo the people to grab power. She said the party manifesto would be released in a day or two.  

Kullu, December 6
The chinks within the Kullu BJP came out in the open as former Mandi Lok Sabha leader Maheshwar Singh and his supporters and BJP nominee from Ani Kishori Lal were conspicuous by their absence on the Dhalpur stage during BJP’s first major campaign rally addressed here yesterday by L.K. Advani. Even general secretary Chandersen Thakur just came first to receive Advani at the Kullu-Manali airport and then went there to see him off, revealed insiders.

This has been viewed nothing less than an act of revolt and party indiscipline at a time when the BJP launched its first major political campaign in Kullu district which has 
three seats.

Even Advani felt embarrassed when he found one of the three party candidates from Kullu district- Kishori Lal (Ani) missing from the stage while introducing them on the stage to a large gathering at Dhalpur. Only Govind Thakur from Kulu, Khimi Ram from Banjar and Jawahar Thakur from Drang (Mandi), state unit president Jai Ram Thakur and general secretary Ram Singh were present 
on the stage.

The BJP presenting itself as a house divided from the open public stage has sent disturbing signals not only to the district BJP rank and file but also to voters at this crucial juncture that can affect the BJP showing in the December 19 poll, pointed out party workers.

In fact, Maheshwar Singh, his brother Karan Singh and Chander Sen Thakur were in the race for the ticket from Kullu and Banjar but were rejected. Karan Singh resigned from the BJP and is contesting from Banjar on the 
BSP ticket.

Maheshwar Singh has yet to decide his action plan though he has expressed resentment to the 
BJP leadership, revealed insiders.

He was asked to drop his name for the ticket from Kulu, with the party assuring him that he would be given an organisational responsibility, revealed party sources.

The entry of local Congress leader Rupinder Singh Kanwar into the BJP, who does not jell with erstwhile Raja of Kulu Maheshwar Singh is being viewed as a major setback for the Maheshwar Singh group which can foment major trouble in the BJP. The Maheshwar Singh group is not supporting BJP candidates Govind Thakur and Khimi Ram, said 
party sources.

When Maheshwar Singh was contacted on the phone he said: “I am busy in a meeting and disconnect the line”.

Chandersen Thakur said : “I came late at the party rally venue as his vehicle was stopped by the security staff. I was sitting amongst the audience”, he claimed, dismissing rumours that he was with Maheshwar Singh.

State president Jai Ram Thakur said: “Maheshwar Singh and Kishori Lal could not make it to the venue because they had some prior engagements, which they could not postpone”. 

Kotli (Mandi), December 6
Villagers get “four gallons of water after four days”. Local students trudge five to six km on foot to board a bus here for Mandi town every day. Lahan, a local brew, is ruining the health of youth as it continues to be a major source of income for poor villagers. The state of affairs here is pathetic.

“We get four gallons of water here after four days. All pleas to water supply staff have fallen on deaf ears”, rues Devkinand, a local villager from Kashan. “We are four brothers, but none of us is employed. We have land, but we can’t grow anything due to lack of water in both Arla and Parla Kashan”, added his brother.

Local villagers say that four kuhals or irrigation channels - Arnoda, Kshani, Gahan and Siagalu - tapped for irrigation purpose are as good as dead. “They run dry as they have not been repaired by the irrigation staff over the years”, revealed an Armyman, who wished not to be named.

The villagers say that over 600 bighas of land can be irrigated in the Tungal area, the main votebank. The former telecom minister Sukh Ram had been wining here exploiting the “Tungal sentiments” without doing anything concrete to generate local sources of self employment or grow vegetables to sell in the Mandi market, the villagers pointed out.

There is not even a single police post here. “The local MLA has been encouraging villagers to produce local brew called “lahan”. It is destroying the unemployed youth and crime is on the rise in the Tungal belt in Mandi Sadar”, revealed villagers.

But the villagers praise Sukh Ram and son Anil Sharma, Congress candidate constructing school buildings. “But we lack teachers and headmasters,” Gian Singh said from Bari Ghumanu adding that two water schemes in Bari Gumanu had no water most of the time.

Even the local Congressmen are vocal about false claims of development of link roads in Kolti, the home panchayat of Sukh Ram, who is campaigning for his son Anil, asking for votes on the basis of development.

The Dwahan-Seri lift water scheme that could irrigate sizeable land had remained buried in papers over the years, the villagers complained, blaming both Sukh Ram and D.D. Thakur, BJP candidate and also a local MLA for their miseries. “Now both were coming asking for votes, where was Sukh Ram for the past five years?” they questioned.

The villagers face hardships to cross the Beas in the Sadoh area as they still use the antiquated “Jhula” across the river to go to Drang. “Three persons have died in the past few years as all pleas to construct a foot bridge has fallen on deaf ears”, Mohar Singh of Sadoh panchayat said.

IPH Executing engineer S.K. Diman dismissed the water woes as motivated, stating that sources of kuhals had dried up. “A lift irrigation scheme was unfeasible. work on two water schemes-Dhanyara-Jarl and Ranakhad-Kot has already begun. Ten kuhals are serving the Tungal area”, he claimed. 

Manali, December 6
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has said the BSP had no prospects in the state. He was addressing an election rally at Manali today in support of Congress candidate Rajkrishan Gaur. 

He added that it was not for the first time that the BSP had entered the poll fray here, stating that so far the BSP had not succeeded in opening its account in the state.

He said some of the leaders after having been denied the party ticket had left the Congress and joined other parties, including the BSP and the BJP. He reiterated that the BSP had no future in the state. He alleged that there was no justification in the BJP levelling corruption charges against the Congress reminding that during the BJP rule, four BJP ministers had resigned after leveling corruption charges against their own Chief Minister.

He claimed that during its regime, the Congress left no stone unturned in accelerating the pace of development in the state.

He alleged that the BJP leaders were never in favour of Himachal Pradesh but always supported Punjab against the interests of the hill people. He made an appeal to the voters to support Congress candidate Raj Krishan Gaur.

Kullu: Virbhadra Singh has said that the ‘hard disc’ about the corrupt practices during the previous BJP government would be released soon to confirm the charges of corruption levelled by the Cabinet colleagues and MLAs against Dhumal.

Addressing election meetings at Kullu and Bhuntar in support of the Congress candidates in Kullu Sadar and Banjar on Thursday, he detailed figures of development during his rule and ridiculed BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal’s statement that development was not the issue in these elections.