Jalandhar, September 28
There were many a red faces among the BJP at the thin attendance at the Sankalp Rally organised by its youth wing in the run-up to the parliamentary poll.

The state-level event, ostensibly held to counter the visit of Rahul Gandhi to Punjab, proved to be a tame affair with party leaders cutting a sorry figure before party president Rajnath Singh, who addressed the rally along with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at the local Sai Dass School grounds.

According to party sources, the intense factionalism among the state leadership took its toll with certain leaders working overtime to make it a flop show.

The rally, which was held to show people the party’s resurgence among the masses, especially the youth, proved to be a damp squib with large sections of the pandal remaining empty till the end.

So much so that when Rajnath Singh rose to address the audience, only a few hundred people were present.

Sources said a local minister and the local party chief wanted to project the rally as their personal show of strength with the result that a majority of the workers and leaders were alienated and did not attend the show.

Scores of youth leaders were reportedly angry at not being a part of the exercise.

Interestingly, more than 30 per cent of the audience comprised elderly persons,
while the leaders on the dais could be heard congratulating the organisers for a
record show.

The sources pointed out that another reason behind the poor show was that even the hoardings dotting the city prior to the rally did not carry the photographs of senior party and youth wing leaders with the result that many felt slighted and did not ask their supporters to participate.

The slight to those can be gauged from the fact that a majority of hoardings did not have the photo of the legislator in whose constituency the rally was organised.

The organisers, on the other hand, claimed that the rally had been a success and that senior party leaders had extended all possible help to them.

Jalandhar, September 28
These eyes speak of the elegance of dimly-lit mehfils, the spiritual joy residing in the sprawling courtyards of exquisite temples of India, palatial grandeur of Rashtrapati Bhavan and the noble magnificence of the darbars of kings long forgotten.

From a humble life, with just a standby role in Shakuntala during Dasehra, to high- profile occasions like birthday parties of Nehru, these eyes, brimming over with the finer nuances of “abhinay” have seen the world, sensed the world, through dance.

The week-long cultural fest organised by Spic Macay, which saw famed artistes perform for the city audience, concluded with the spellbinding performance of Kathak exponent Padmabhushan Uma Sharma at the HMV College here on Saturday.

The day started with the vocal brilliance of Benaras bandhus - Ritesh and Rajnish Mishra. The musical festivities reached the zenith when Sharma lit up the stage with her show of rhythmic grace, inherited from her gurus - Shambhu Maharaj of the Lucknow gharana and Sunder Prasadji of Jaipur gharana.

Starting with a brief introduction of Kathak, she first performed “adharam madhuram”, an Ashtapadhi written by Swami Vallabhacharya. An episode from the Ramayana came next. The performance ended with Urdu poetry, “Ik nau bahare naaz ko taake hai phir nigaah, chehra farokhe may se gulistan kiye hue”.

Her performance was replete with wit and wisdom, especially the one-liners, the kinds which are permanently etched in the memory of art lovers and are quoted ad nauseum at musical gatherings.

Talking about “laykari”, she said, “Tore, tukre, paran, ye Kathak ka ek bahut tandav roop hai.” In an episode of the Ramayana where she was supposed to show the importance of the eyes in Lord Rama shooting an arrow, she said, “Jab tak ankh saath na de, tab tak teer kamaan se nahi niklega,” (as long as the eye doesn’t express it aptly, the act of the arrow being shot from the bow would fall flat).

Clearly unhappy about the way television was heading, she said, “What they show on TV is not us. Our dance is dignified and graceful but what happens on television these days is ugly.”

The artiste who has worked on a wide range of poets, including Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Fakir, Kaifi Azmi, Tagore and Bulle Shah, said she was fond of Madhushala by Bachchan. “Ghalib aur Surdas pe marti hun,” she added with a chuckle.

Sharma also held a workshop at Virsa Vihar in association with Spic Macay here for the students of dance on Sunday.

Pathankot, September 28
The local municipal council here has been functioning without any head for the past over 90 days.

Thanks to the 10-member group of BJP councillors in the 33-member council, which is not allowing the council to elect its president. The election to the municipal council was held on June 30.

The Congress has a strength of 20 members in the council. A total of three
councillors are independents.

But the BJP, which has only 10 councillors, has got the backing of the SAD-BJP government and district administration.

The democratic process, which got the Congress clearcut majority in the council, has been jeopardised by the BJP councillors, who under a planned strategy foiled the bid of the Congress to elect its candidate to the post of the president of the municipal council.

It all started with a meeting convened by the then SDM-cum-returning officer to constitute the house of the newly elected councillors in which he also administered oath of office and secrecy to the elected representatives on July 28. The Congress was all set to set up its hold in the council.

Congress observer K.P. Rana was present with a whip for the Congress councillors
to elect a particular Congress councillor as the leader of the party councillors group
in the council.

But as was the strategy designed by the SAD-BJP combine to keep Congress away from attaining power, the BJP councillors without wasting even a single moment stood up immediately after the oath ceremony was over and started raising slogans against Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh holding them responsible for violent situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

On the other hand, Congressmen also shouted slogans against the BJP, following which the SDM adjourned the meeting.

The leaders of the faction-ridden Congress are also equally responsible for the non-installation of the Congress regime in the civic body.

The local unit of the Congress is a divided lot. Former minister Raman Bhalla represents the P.S. Bhinder group, whereas former MLA Ashok Sharma watches the interests of the union minister of state for industries Ashwani Kumar’s faction.

Amritsar, September 28
Already reeling under a skewed sex ratio, huge influx of prenatal gender testing kits into Punjab from US and Canada is giving sleepless nights to health department.

Dubbed as jantar-mantar kits, packets are delivered to interested party allegedly via international courier services, said well-placed sources in the health department.

This ‘user-friendly’ equipment just requires a finger-prick blood sample of an expecting mother. The sample is then dispatched to a laboratory in US.

The result is posted on a secret website, which claims to deliver the same via e-mail within 48 hours. At times, the client gets the information on phone, added sources .

After receiving a secret information on these banned gender testing kits being smuggled into state, ADGP crime and director health services had directed the civil surgeons of various districts to conduct thorough checking in their respective areas.

On Sunday, the health department officials raided a local branch of an international courier company here.

However, nothing objectionable was found even after a thorough search, said
department sources.

Notably, Punjab and the neighboring Haryana are among the states with rapidly dwindling sex ratio.

“They offer a fertile ground for such an illegal trade to flourish. Even the involvement of certain NRIs in the racket cannot be ruled out,” said police sources.

Civil surgeon Dr Lehmbar Singh could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla said stringent action would be taken against anyone found guilty.

“Though the provisions of law are there, the problem cannot be solved until there is lack of awareness among the public. Mass cooperation is needed to weed out this menace,” she added.

Batala, September 28
The district police today arrested two robbers and recovered a stolen motorbike from their possession.

The accused have been identified as Gurwinder Singh of Talwandi Khuman village and Dawinder Singh of Kotli Dhole Shah village, falling in Kathu Nangal police station, said SSP Batala Dr Naresh Arora, while talking to mediapersons here.

Gursharan Singh of Kaluwal village had complained to the police that the two accused along with their accomplice Harjot Singh of Talwandi KHuman village snatched his bike in July this year, said the SSP.

Harjot was arrested the very next day and during his interrogation he revealed the names of Gurwinder and Dawinder, who had absconded.

Recently the police had received information that the duo were operating in the
Bharathwal village.

So a police party, headed by SI Onkar Singh, SHO of Ghanie-Ke-Banger police station, naka was put up near the distributory bridge of the village.

The two accused, who were on a bike, were signalled to stop. During questioning, the disclosed their names and were arrested.

The SSP revealed that the trio were involved in various robberies cases in Batala, Gurdaspur and Amritsar.

Among others, Phagwara municipal council president Balbhader Sen Duggal and literary personality Kirti Kesar were also present on the occasion.