Palampur, December 17
Promising that the Congress was committed to making Himachal Pradesh the most developed state Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has appealed to the people to vote for the Congress to continue the pace of development and not get misled by false propaganda of BJP or other parties.

Addressing a public meeting in the agriculture university grounds here today he recalled the contribution of Indira Gandhi in making HP a full-fledged state and of Chief Minister Y.S. Parmar in providing a strong foundation for its overall development.

Saying that the subsequent Congress governments had worked hard for the socio-economic development of the state, he said the Virbhadra Singh government was an era of phenomenal development.

He lambasted the BJP governments for ignoring development and alleged that the short stints of BJP governments were a period when development took a back seat.

Highlighting the achievements of Congress governments Manmohan Singh said that when the hill areas of Punjab were merged into Himachal in 1966 the literacy rate was just 20 per cent and there were hardly any education or health institutions in the state. Even the road connectivity or rail link as well as electrification were a distant dream but in the past four decades the state was now one of the most developed states in the country with its literacy rate as high as 90 per cent.

The growth rate had also increased to 9.5 per cent for which the credit goes to the successive Congress governments in the state. However, he said that this growth rate needed to be further increased.

While assuring all help in overall development of the state he specifically appealed to the women voters, claiming that it was only the Congress that had given due importance to women.

Surprisingly, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, PCC president Viplove Thakur or any other senior party leader of the state was not present in the rally.

Dharam Prakash Gupta adds from Bilaspur: Manmohan Singh sought votes for the Congress to take the state to new heights and reject the BJP for its divisive, casteist and anti-development policies.

Addressing an election meeting here on Monday he lauded development made by the Congress in the state in basic infrastructure, industry and rural electrification since its formation in 1966.

Detailing the achievements of the Congress government in the state he named several schemes, including the rural employment guarantee scheme under which rural people have been given right to employment. The scheme, which was in force in four districts, would be extended to the whole state from April 1, 2008.

Saying that Himachal had progressed in agriculture, floriculture and horticulture he said the central government would lay more emphasis on these sectors if the Congress was voted to power again in the state.

He said the central government was giving special attention to develop basic infrastructure in the state, including the Bilaspur-Bhanpali and Baddi- Chandigarh rail lines. Saying that the upgradation of Kullu and Kangra airports would give impetus to tourism, the Prime Minister said that crores had been given for tourism development in Mandi, Bilaspur and Kangra, besides beginning work on the Rohtang tunnel.

Shimla, December 17
BJP leader L.K. Advani today said with the results in Gujarat and Himachal going in favour of the BJP, the possibility of mid-term elections would be ruled out due to major political realignment at the Centre.

Wrapping up the election campaign of the BJP in the state, Advani addressed a rally at Ambedkar Chowk here today. “The results of the Gujarat and Himachal elections will lead to a lot of political realignments at the Centre that would ensure that the parliamentary elections are held towards the end of 2008 and not early in the year,” he said.

BJP’s prime ministerial candidate said there had been a period of complete uncertainty ever since the issue of signing the nuclear deal came into focus. “The BJP will get complete majority both in Himachal and Gujarat where Narender Modi has set the finest example of good governance, despite such harsh criticism from every quarter,” he said.

Advani said the single largest factor that had contributed to the growth of the BJP was the Ayodhya issue, a resolution for which was passed at the BJP national executive meeting held at Palampur in Himachal. “The issue suddenly catapulted the BJP from its strength of two in 1984 to 86 MPs after 1989, which came as a major surprise to most of us,” he said.

He said the BJP never had a problem with secularism, but it would not compromise with issues like pseudo secularism, minoritism and votebank politics that the Congress had been indulging in.

He said issues like price rise, security of the country and suicide by farmers were grave issues that the Congress regime had completely failed to tackle.

Palampur, December 17
Anti-incumbency mood in the five assembly segments of Palampur region (the old Palampur sub-division was earlier split into three separate subdivisions) seems to have made up for the adverse affect the BJP was supposed to encounter owing to the party’s decision to field Prem Kumar Dhumal as the Chief Ministerial candidate instead of Palampur-based party heavyweight Shanta Kumar.

Sulah: BJP nominee Vipin Singh Parmar is on the ascendance here, but it has nothing to do with Shanta Kumar. The anti-incumbency mood against the sitting Congress MLA Jagjiwan Paul is helping Parmar. Paul comes from the OBC category.

Shanta Kumar had won from Sulah and also lost an election from here. His loyalists would concede that even if the BJP stalwart had contested in the elections this time, he would have fought from Palampur and not from Sulah. Jagjiwan Paul won by over 10,000 votes in the last elections, which was considered a huge margin in a constituency of about 5, 5000 voters. Possible cracks in his OBC votebank, coupled with the anti-incumbency mood, are the problems being faced by the sitting MLA.

Palampur: By far the ruling Congress party’s best bet in the Palampur region is the Palampur seat. Brij Behari Lal Butail, is the sitting Congress MLA from here. Butail, who has represented the constituency on four occasions, is facing challenge here from BJP candidate Praveen Sharma. Butail defeated Sharma, a protégé of Shanta Kumar, in the last elections.

In the town, Butail appears to be having a sizeable following. The BJP is counting on voters living in the countryside. The BSP candidate is a Brahmin and the BJP sympathisers of Palampur are worried that the BSP may cut into the BJP’s votes rather than damaging the Congress by claiming a share of the Dalit votes.

Rajgir: Dalits of Rajgir are not expecting BSP candidate Vidya Devi to emerge victorious from here, which is the only constituency reserved for the Dalits in the Palampur area.

Dalits here have misgivings about the BSP candidate’s caste. Members of her caste apparently are not listed as the Dalits in the area known as “old Himachal”. Captain Atma Ram, the sitting BJP legislator from the seat, who is seeking re-election, appears to be still popular. Congress candidate M R Goman is the main challenger of the BJP nominee.

Baijnath: Suresh Sharma, BSP candidate for the seat, is the only BSP nominee in the constituencies of the Palampur area, who is considered figuring in the triangular fight for the seat with the sitting Congress MLA Sudhir Sharma and the BJP candidate Dhulo Ram being the other two contenders. As the Congress candidate is perceiving threat from BSP nominee Dhani Ram, an Independent candidate, who may similarly damage the BJP aspirant’s prospects.

Thural: The sitting BJP MLA here, who is seeking re-election, has apparently got into a good position as rebel Congress candidate Jagdish Saphia joined in the fray. The official Congress nominee Sanjay Rana is facing an uphill task because of the “outsider” tag accorded to him by his rivals.

Shimla, December 17
The weather-marred and largely low-key campaign for the second phase of the assembly poll ended comparatively on a high note with national leaders of main parties addressing a series of rallies on the final day of electioneering today.

The main parties scaled up their rhetoric against each other in the dying hours of campaign to assert their respective positions and score points to help win the battle of the ballot on December 19. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wound up the Congress campaign by addressing a rally at Palampur while BJP stalwart L.K.Advani addressed an election meeting here to conclude his party’s campaign.

A week-long spell of inclement weather midway during electioneering, which brought widespread snow and rain, virtually grounded the campaign of major parties. Crucial election meetings of top national leaders of the two main contenders, the Congress and the BJP, could not be held as bad weather disrupted their tour programmes.

The leaders whose rallies had to be cancelled included UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and BJP president Rajnath Singh.

The weather god smiled on the political parties enabling national leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP stalwart L.K. Advani, BSP leader Mayawati, LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan and others to address election meetings.

Shimla, December 17
The Himachal Pradesh High Court today declined to give any interim relief to the Pradesh Congress Committee on the issue of rejection of nomination papers of the Congress candidate, Bodh Raj from Gangth Assembly segment.

The court refused to grant relief in view of the judgment passed by the Supreme Court quashing his earlier election from the seat on the ground that he was not a schedule caste.

However, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice V. K. Gupta and Justice Sanjay Karol, admit the matter for hearing, and directed the Election Commission to file its reply within six weeks.

The Congress party filed this petition on the ground that returning officer had cancelled the nomination papers of the Congress candidate without any notice or opportunity of hearing.

The counsel of the petitioner, Shams Khawaja, contended before the court that the candidate of the petitioner party duly filed his nomination papers with the concerned returning officer on time. He said the returning officer issued the list of nominated candidates on December 1 and rejected the nomination of the petitioner party on the direction of Election Commission on on December 3.

Una, December 17
A sunny day, a charged public and the last day of campaigning -Antokhgarh in Una district saw a lot of action amidst the din of electioneering. Leaders of Punjab and Haryana together pitched in for sitting MLA and Congress candidate Mukesh Agnihotri. The BJP and the BSP workers took to door-to-door campaigning to mobilise support for party candidates Jagrup Singh and Vijay Joshi respectively.

In a day packed with blaring loudspeakers, slogan-shouting activists and anxious candidates organising nukkad meetings, the voter was king. As if to enjoy this attention, voters, wearing the Himachali cap and mufflers, came out to attend these meetings for one quick recap of promises made by the candidates, to finally make up their mind before going to vote on December 19.

In Haroli village, former Punjab Chief Minister, Capt (redt) Amarinder Singh, who arrived by his chopper, made a brief speech, asking the crowd to support the Congress candidate before proceeding to a second rally elsewhere in the state.

In his short speech, the former Chief Minister went off track, bringing in bete noir Navjot Sidhu, his “non-performance and the fate that awaited him in the Lok Sabha elections” in Punjab. He emphasised that Himachal had bagged the top positions in a number of sectors, including education, leaving even Punjab behind.

Haryana power and public health minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, too, sought votes for Agnihotri, harping on the fact that the Congress party stood for development.

Supporters of BJP candidate, who finished second in the last election after fighting as an independent, created hype for their candidate with the beating of dhols. The BJP workers carried out door-to-door campaigning in a number of villages including Palkwa, Rora, Baliwal and claimed that the panchayat of Easpur had reposed faith in their candidate and officially extended support to them.

Activists of three-time MLA and BSP candidate Vijay Joshi, too, went about “winning over votes”. Now, the voters and candidates await December 19.

Mandi, December 17
The cricketer-turned-Lok Sabha BJP MP from Amritsar, Navjot Singh Siddhu, today spiced up the BJP election campaign with his witty anecdotes in the Balh segment, taking Congress leaders to task on the issues of development.

He asked voters to vote out “The inefficient, corrupt Congress government” and vote in “The honest and development oriented BJP government” on December 19.”

Addressing his first election meeting at Bhangrotu in support of BJP candidate Damodar Das today, Sidhu said: “Compare 50 years of the Congress rule in Himachal and 10-year-rule of the BJP. The Congress rule is like a long bamboo tree without juice. People tasted the BJP 10 years rule like sugarcane stick full of juice of development.”

Addressing the crowd from Balh and other areas in Sundernagar and Nachen Siddhu said the NDA government had given LPG gas cylinders, roads, mobile connectivity and industries to benefit common man. But the Congress failed on all fronts.

Kangra, December 17
It was a piquant situation at Nagrota Bagwan’s when former union minister and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj was not allowed to land at the Gandhi Maidan where G. S. Bali former transport minister and Congress candidate from Nagrota Bagwan was holding a public meeting and both the Congress and the BJP claimed that they had sought the permission from the concerned authorities for their respective purposes.

The helicopter carrying Sushma, today began hovering over Gandhi Maidan in the heart of the town, where Bali was holding a public rally at the landing spot. The helicopter after taking three rounds was asked by the authorities to land at the Gaggal airport.

Surprisingly, the helicopter was not allowed to land at the Gaggal airport too and the pilot was asked to proceed to Dharamsala for landing. Ultimately Sushma landed at Dharamsala, more than 25 km away, from the venue of the public meeting.

Sushma drove from Dharamsala to Nagrota Bagwan and after her arrival there she alleged that the administration in connivance with.Bali had created a stumbling block for her so that she would not be able to address the gathering there.

She said while addressing the rally that the Congress was short of leaders now and so Bali was given the ticket this time too. She said she too had become a victim of fury of the Congress leadership and the administration in this district.

On the other hand, Bali said he was granted permission by the authorities for holding the public meeting at Gandhi Mround today. SDM Kangra C .Palrasu confirmed that he had granted permission to Bali for holding the public rally there. He said the BJP had not taken permission for landing of the helicopter at the ground today.

Mangal Dev and Amit Sharma, general secretary BJP mandal claimed that they were granted permission under No 2 (202) 12543-46/MA dated December 15, .2007 from the DC for the landing of the helicopter. The two BJP leaders supplied the copy of the permission to mediapersons.

Dalhousie, December 17
The families that were displaced for the setting up of Thein Dam (now Ranjit Sagar) hydroelectric project have decided to abstain from voting this time. The decision comes in the wake of government’s failure to give job to one member of 215 ousted families even after 10 years.

Announcing the decision here today, chairman of the action committee of Thein Dam Oustees P.C. Oberoy said while executing the project at Shahpur Kandi in the Pathankot area of Punjab adjoining Dalhousie tehsil in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, cultivable land of three states (Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir) got submerged in the dam waters.

Many rounds of meeting were arranged and the final meeting of the Himachal and Punjab chief secretaries was held at Shimla on July 13, 1998, to decide how to rehabilitate the ousted families.

As an outcome of the meeting, an agreement to this effect was signed by representatives of both states that cash payment for the compensation of their land and houses might be released to all families and one member of the identified families be given job.

During the BJP-Himachal Vikas Congress government, many efforts were made and 322 families were given jobs, while 215 out of total 537 identified families had not been provided jobs so far.

Oberoy also met Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Chandigarh and thereafter Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra recently. Even the deputy commissioner of Chamba made several references for the past many years, but the voice of ousted families remained unheard, he said.

Nahan, December 17
Defacement of public property is emerging as the most common violation of the model code of conduct in Sirmaur, with the BSP taking a lead in the matter.

Other political parties are not far behind either, with posters of Kush Parmar, Congress candidate from Nahan, still dotting walls of the Nahan bus stand.

Posters of Parmar and the ABVP could be seen on every pillar of the bus stand. The BSP, has defaced walls in most residential areas across Nahan. At every 10 yards, the BSP elephant greets the visitors.

It may be mentioned that writings and paintings on private buildings/walls, without prior permission of owners, is a violation of the code of conduct. In Nahan, such violations are rampant.

Returning officer of Nahan Sumit Khimta told The Tribune he had issued notices to BSP and other political parties for defacement of both private and public property. BSP posters and paintings are still there on many private and public building walls in Nahan, Rainka and Pachad.

The candidates, it seems, are taking advantage of the fact that returning officers have other important tasks at hand than “monitoring BSP’s elephants”, which are painting Sirmauri towns blue these days.

Shimla, December 17
The BSP suffered a setback on the eve of the assembly poll when its president Balwant Singh resigned after making serious allegations against the leadership of the party.

Announcing his decision to resign at a press conference here today he said that national general secretary of the party Man Singh Manhera and state convener Vijay Singh Mankotia were not running the affairs of the party properly and they were indulging in various irregularities.

He alleged that distribution of the party ticket was done on extraneous considerations which would affect electoral prospects. The campaign had been totally mismanaged as a result of which election material and other resources were not reaching the candidates. There was no coordination at all.

He said certain party leaders had been indulging in mean tactics to undermine and tarnish his image.

They had even used his brother against him and managed to fabricate a false CD to defame him, Balwant Singh He said he would expose these leaders and reveal all their misdeeds after the poll.

The action of Balwant Singh will take the winds out of the sails of the BSP which is making a determined bid to find a foothold in the hill state. It is contesting 67 of the total 68 seats and has also declared Mankotia as its chief ministerial candidate.

Shimla, December 17
Senior CPM leader Sita Ram Yechury today said the negative recommendations made by former Chief Minister P. K. Dhumal for not selecting certain candidates as they had a CPM background was a serious matter which indicated that jobs were given during the BJP regime on political considerations.

Addressing a press conference here today he said the hard disk data recovered from the hard disk of Dhumal’s computer had indeed brought out the true face of the BJP government. In a democracy the party in power had to take care of all the people and it was not expected to discriminate on the basis if political ideology or other such considerations.

However, the hard disk data revealed that there were at least five candidates for which the recommendations of Dhumal was “not to be selected” as they were from the CPM.

He said the BJP and the Congress were both indulging in corruption and nepotism and by making allegations against each other in the matter they had shifted focus from the main issues like unemployment , lack of civic amenities in towns and problems like water shortage.

Scoffing at the promise being made by L.K.Advani that the BJP would make the hill state like Gujarat he pleaded to the BJP leader to let Himachal remain as it was as the peace-loving  hill people did not believe in communalism and spreading hatred among communities.

He said the Left parties would continue to oppose the anti-people policies of the UPA government and whether the country would face a snap poll or not would depend on what course of action the government would take on the nuclear deal. The left parties would not allow it to proceed ahead with the operationalisation of the deal.

Chamba, December 17
Chamba district will witness a keen contest in the Vidhan Sabha poll this time. While no candidate has an upper hand, it is the minority communities, including the Gujjars and the Gorkhas, which will decide electoral fortunes of contesting candidates.

The district is basically the “homeland of Gaddis. It is only the the business communities, who have migrated from outside and settled down in the region, are non-Gaddis.

The Muslims in the district, roughly numbering 53,000 and spread over four of the five assembly constituencies, have been the votebank of the Congress since independence. And it is due to this reason that there is now awareness amongst the Muslims, who now intend to send their own candidate to the state assembly.

Political observers say that the Banikhet assembly segment has the highest number of Muslim voters. The most inhabited belts of the Muslims are Diur, Kihar, Bhandal, and the Salooni areas. While in the Chamba segment, they are concentrated in Rakh, Jadera, Shillaghrat, the Sahoo belts, Bagheigarh, Kurangoo and Jyuni belts in the Rajnagar segment. They are scattered all around and in Bhattiyat, they are residing in the Sinhuta pockets.

The ‘Gujjars’ so far held the view only the Congress can do them good. They say that it is the Congress that does not have an agenda like the Hindutva, Ram Setu etc.

So far no major political party has fielded any Muslim candidate from any segment.

Most of the Muslims who are staunch supporters of the Congress may continue to stick to the party but since the political culture of the BJP has changed and has become the same like that of the Congress, the Muslim voters may be divided during this election.

But it is certain that the Muslim voters may tilt the scales and become a deciding factor for the BJP and the Congress this time in the district, the political observers admit.

It has become a prestige issue in the segment for B. K. Chauhan of the BJP, to win over voters as he is faced with a tough fight by Pawan Nayyar, a fresh candidate of the Congress. If their campaigning is any indication, either of the two candidates can strike a fortune if they are able to get the Gujjar votes, as this community holds the key in this segment, especially Shillaghrat, Jadera, Sahoo and Rakh.

Vineet Puri of the BSP and Nand Lal of the LJP are also in the fray from this constituency.

In the Bhattiyat assembly constituency, there will be a four-cornered contest between Congress candidate Kuldip Pathania, BJP candidate Bhupinder Singh Chauhan, a BJP rebel and Independent candidate Vikram Singh Jaryal, besides BSP candidate Kalu Ram.

Several pockets of this segment are inhabited by the Gaddis who were understood to be staunch supporters of the Congress. But the current campaign has indicated that the BJP has successfully penetrated into the Congress bastion due to a submissive leadership BJP’s Brij Lal Sharma. The Gorkha votes in the Bakloh cantonment might still go to the Congress.

The election scenario in the Banikhet assembly constituency will be influenced by both Gaddis and the Gujjars. Though there is a direct fight between Asha Kumari of the Congress and Renu Chadha of the BJP, yet the presence of BSP candidate Loki Nand Sharma cannot be overlooked.

Fatehpur (Jwali), December 17
Scores of patients and school students were put to hardship for over six hours due to a political rally which was addressed by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani here today.

Advani addressed a gathering of over 4,500 at a venue sharing its boundary wall with a community health centre (CHC) and a government senior secondary school, in support of his party candidate Rajan Shushant from the Jwali constituency.

Advani addressed the rally amid sloganeering by party supporters who had perched atop the roof of the CHC holding party banners and flags. Scores of BJP supporters entered the CHC premises by jumping over its boundary walls and climbed atop the roof while the police remained a mute spectator.

Loudspeakers put around the venue caused inconvenience to scores of students who were taking their tests in the school playground. The worst hit were the patients in different wards of the health centre.

The Congress had also organised a rally at the same venue on December 11 in violation of the norms. The Chief Minister was to address the rally, but he could not do so due to certain reasons. Party candidate from the Jwali constituency Sujan Singh Pathania had later addressed the rally.

Advani said the election outcome in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat would set a favourable trend for the BJP for forming government at the Centre.

Coming down heavily on the Congress-led UPA government, Advani said the Congress had been befooling the public for the past 60 years in the name of development, employment, etc. The actual development in the country was witnessed during the previous Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, he claimed.

He appealed to the electorate to vote of the BJP so that “swaraj” could be set up in the “state of gods”.

Earlier, BJP candidate from the Jwali assembly constituency Rajan Shushan said the retirement age for government employees would be raised to 60 years if the BJP formed the government. He also assured to provide medical and HRA to the government employees on the pattern of Punjab.

Election officer-cum-sub-divisional magistrate Sushil Kumar Sharma, however, admitted that the Supreme Court’s guidelines were violated by the Congress and the BJP by organising rallies just adjacent to the school and the health centre. Moreover, playing of loudspeakers beyond the prescribed pitch was also a violation of the norms.

He, however, said the venue for the rallies would be shifted from the existing place for the next elections.

Shambhuwala, December 17
Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s assurance of setting up a multi-crore steel plant has snowballed into a major poll issue in the Nahan constituency.

While the sitting Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MLA Sadanand Chauhan is hoping to court victory on this issue, the BJP is hell-bent on taking political steam out of it.

Where Chauhan is going to town, terming the steel factory as any MLA’s or party’s “biggest” achievement in Himachal, the BJP has taken up the issue with the election office, terming the LJP’s claim of setting up the unit a “violation of the model code of conduct”.

The BJP’s reaction follows Paswan’s repeated assurances on the steel plant to voters in Nahan, where he has been campaigning for Chauhan since yesterday. Incidentally, senior SAIL functionaries were also here yesterday, and they reportedly clarified to the media that the plant “was on”.

The BJP was earlier maintaining that Paswan’s promise was a hoax. It has now changed tack and complained to election observers that the promise is violative of the model code of conduct. District election officer R.S. Negi, who yesterday sought a report on the matter, is yet to take the final decision on the matter.

Meanwhile, assistant returning officer K.S. Lalta, who probed the alleged presence of SAIL officials in Nahan at the behest of Paswan, confirmed to The Tribune that the officers were indeed present at Hotel City Heart (the hotel is owned by Sadanand Chauhan).

Lalta added “when I reached the spot they were having tea and were not addressing the media. I have submitted my report.”

While state BJP functionary Shiv Singh Oswal has in his complaint to the election observer sought action against SAIL and Paswan, the LJP still maintains the steel plant issue is old and the BJP is overreacting because it is “wary”. The Congress, meanwhile, is now maintaining silence, though Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had earlier stated that no such issue was pending before his government.

Paswan, when contacted, said: “The steel plant proposal has been pending with the Himachal government whom SAIL had earlier approached for 150 bighas of land in Shambhuwala, near Nahan. The request was declined; now SAIL is negotiating with private land owners. In fact, two SAIL steel plants are proposed to be set up in India . The foundation stone for the Nahan plant was to be laid in October but had to be postponed due to the elections.”

The steel plant, maintains the LJP supremo, has immense developmental potential for Sirmaur, Himachal’s second most backward district after Chamba. Sirmaur is also among the 100 most backward districts of India.