Dehradun, January 3
The recent decision of the Nainital High Court to issue notices to the Uttarakhand Government on taking out 28 government positions out of the purview of the Office of Profit Act on a petition filed by an Independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls has come as a big relief to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that was under pressure from its own legislators for these positions.

Manish Verma, a local Congress leader who fought the Rajya Sabha elections held for the lone vacant post last month as an Independent, had filed a petition in the Nainital High Court charging the state government of employing unfair means to influence the Rajya Sabha elections.

The petitioner charged that the state government in a bid to influence its disgruntled legislators had taken out 28 government positions out of purview of the Office of Profit Act. The move was aimed at giving these positions to the party legislators.

The High Court issued notices to the state government returnable on February 25, 2009, thereby implying that the state government, which has been dithering on giving these positions to legislators and party leaders, would be relieved till the court gives its verdict.

The ruling BJP and the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd) were uncomfortable on the issue of giving such largesse to party legislators.

The Chief Minister was under pressure from party leaders and legislators, who were impatient to get these positions. With Lok Sabha elections a few months away, the issue would be a potent political issue to be exploited by the opposition Congress. The BJP had been in a dilemma on the issue.

Earlier, BJP legislators had raised a banner of revolt against the Chief Minister’s style of functioning and had complained to the party high command against him. It was decided that many of these legislators would be ‘adjusted’ by taking out several government positions out of the purview of the Office of Profit Act.

In the Winter Session of the state assembly, the state government passed the Bill in this direction. But still no decision could be arrived at about giving these positions. Speculations were rife that these positions would be distributed by mid-January.

Chief Minister Khanduri, knowing fully well the political impact of the decision, was a bit reluctant. He tried to throw the ball in the court of the party high command by stating that it was the high command’s decision to refrain from giving such large-scale positions to legislators and partymen. He had said that the distribution of these offices would also be decided by the high command.

It was the BJP that politically exploited the issue of giving such large-scale positions by previous Congress government in the last assembly elections held in February 2007. Now with the Lok Sabha elections near, it was a difficult decision for the party to take.

But the recent Nainital High Court has come has a welcome relief for the BJP as well as the Chief Minister.

It seems that the ruling party legislators will have to wait a few months more till the Lok Sabha elections to get lucrative positions.

Minister for urban development Diwakar Bhatt meets municipal committee members in Haridwar on Saturday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar

Haridwar, January 3
The development works in the city have once again suffered a jolt as the elections for sub-committees of the Municipal Committee have been postponed. Election officer Harshwardhan Mishra cancelled the election process for an indefinite period.

This was done in wake of allegations levelled by opposition members that the election officer is biased towards the ruling BJP board members.

Minister for urban development Diwakar Bhatt today met municipality members and tried to pacify them. Bhatt also gave directions to the executive engineer to ensure that the election process is transparent.

Opposition members had complained to the minister about the election process after nomination proceedings on Friday.

The sub-committee elections were scheduled to be held on January 7 with Friday being the last date of filing nominations.

How can BJP members deposit forms to a election member personally without following the election procedure? They did this to postpone the elections as the fear of defeat loomed on them. — Sanjay Sharma, Opposition leader

While opposition ward members filed the forms in the committee hall before election employee Aditya Ram Dwivedi, the opposition ward members alleged that BJP members had submitted the filled forms personally to another election employee named Khalid.

Despite the fact that the deadline for filing nominations was over, the opposition members found that no BJP member had come to the Municipal Committee office to file his nomination.

They then enquired about the nominations filed from executive engineer and election officer Harshwardhan Mishra.

On persistent requests by the opposition, it was found that only 37 nominations had been filed within the deadline and all belonged to opposition members. But election employee Khalid said that the BJP members had submitted forms to him. On this, the opposition members got angry and demanded instant cancellation of elections.

“How can they deposit forms to a election member personally without following the requisite election procedure? They did this to postpone the elections as the fear of defeat loomed on them” said opposition leader in the Palika, Sanjay Sharma.

For three hours, the ruckus continued in the town hall and ultimately EO Harshwardhan Mishra cancelled the election process for an indefinite period.

Election officer Harshwardhan Mishra denied any bias. “The allegations by the opposition are baseless. BJP members had submitted nominations to election employee Khalid. The opposition has deliberately tried to hamper the election process,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, the municipal chairman Kamal Johra criticised the opposition of resorting to violence and hooliganism in the town hall. “Their behaviour was not appropriate. I will take appropriate action as per rules,” he said.

Samajwadi Party’s ward member Dr Premprakash, Radhekrishan of BSP and Independent Ashok Sharma also raised questions on the election process and put forth their complaints about the election process and the chairman to the minister.

Once again, the development work will suffer as there have been only four board meetings after the palika elections last April and those too have been marred by violence and chaos with few projects and tenders being passed.

Dehradun, January 3
With Lok Sabha elections a few months away, lobbying for ticket for the five parliamentary constituencies of Uttarakhand has already begun within the BJP.

As the BJP’s central parliamentary board will be taking a final decision about the party candidates, the interested party leaders have initiated an exercise to impress upon the party’s central leadership.

From five Lok Sabha constituencies - Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Nainital and Almora - so far the BJP has announced its candidate for only one seat of Pauri Garhwal. From this parliamentary constituency, sitting BJP MP TP Singh Rawat will be the party’s candidate.

As far as the other four parliamentary constituencies are concerned, names of several BJP leaders, including some ministers in the Khanduri government, have come up. Party insiders revealed that with many heavyweight leaders lobbying for election ticket, the choice of candidates for the party leadership would not be an easy job.

Though the BJP leadership has earlier maintained that party’s legislators will not be fielded in the Lok Sabha elections but BJP sources revealed that education minister Madan Kaushik, who has connections with BJP leaders in New Delhi, is interested in contesting from Haridwar constituency.

Another strong contender for this constituency is Chinmayanand, who was state minister for home affairs during the NDA regime. With two heavyweights eyeing the ticket, the selection of candidate for Haridwar is expected to be a tough job for the BJP.

Nainital is another parliamentary constituency for which the BJP will have to do a lot of brainstorming. Since it is yet not clear whether the Congress will be fielding former Uttarakhand CM ND Tiwari or some other party leader, the BJP leaders have decided to adopt a wait-and-watch policy.

According to sources, AICC chief Sonia Gandhi would soon be convening a meeting with Tiwari, who, at present, is Governor of Andhra Pradesh.

BJP sources said that once the Congress announces its candidate for Nainital, the BJP would decide its official nominee. The names of the BJP leaders that had so far figured for this constituency include BJP MP from Almora and state party president Bachi Singh Rawat, sitting BJP MP from Nainital KC Singh Baba, former MP Balraj Passi and former Minister KC Pant’s son Sunil Pant.

As far as Almora (reserve) constituency is concerned, social welfare minister Ajay Tamta is leading the race. According to party sources, being a Scheduled Caste member of the Khanduri ministry and that too hailing from Almora district, he has been shortlisted as the party candidate from the reserve seat.

Tamta, who was a state minister in the Khanduri government, was elevated to cabinet minister on June 17, 2008. It is believed that Tamta’s elevation was to provide him more powers and space to work in his (Almora) constituency, so that he could be fielded from Almora.

Though Tamta seems to be the strongest contender for Almora, state women commission president Geeta Thakur is also vying to get the party’s ticket from this constituency.

With ace shooter Jaspal Rana and family members of erstwhile King of Tehri Maharaja Manvendra Sah lobbying for the ticket, the choice of the candidate for the Tehri constituency is also expected to be another challenging job for the BJP leaders.

Late Manvendra Sah’s son Manujendra Sah had unsuccessfully contested the last general election from Tehri. This time, Manujendra and his wife are trying for the BJP ticket.

Jaspal Rana is also making all efforts to procure the BJP ticket. During 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Rana had failed to get the party ticket. However, this time his chances seem bright as his father Narian Singh Rana is a relative of BJP chief Rajnath Singh.

State spokesman of BJP Vishwas Dabur said that the State Parliamentary Board of the BJP would submit its recommendations regarding the party candidates for the Lok Sabha constituencies to the BJP Central Parliamentary Board. “The final decision about the candidates would be taken by the party’s Central Parliamentary Board,” he added.

Dehradun, January 3
The series of meetings and trips to neighbouring states, undertaken by the political representatives and officials for finalising the proposed Uttarakhand Panchayati Raj draft, have yielded little results. The state is still to get it’s own Panchayati Raj Act.

Doubts are being raised by the elected Panchayati Raj representatives of the state about the intentions of the government regarding the fate of the proposed draft. And most of them believe the BJP government would rehash the proposed Uttaranchal Panchayati Raj draft, brought by the previous Congress government in 2003.

“Several meetings and extensive tours were taken by the MLAs to Himachal Pradesh and Kerala in order to carry a comparative study about the functions of their Panchayats. The tours were undertaken during the Congress rule and continued during the tenure of the interim government, headed by former BJP CM Nitya Nand Swami, so far the Panchayati Raj draft has remained elusive,” said Madhu Bisht, block pramukh of Naini Danda (Pauri).

The state does not have it’s own Panchayati Raj Act and has adopted the Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act. However both the Congress and the BJP governments have adopted delaying tactics, engaging the elected representatives in exercises such as meetings and study trips as a prelude to the draft bill that continues to remain elusive.

According to sources, the government is most likely to present a rehashed version of the Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, with liberal borrowings from the Himachal Pradesh and Kerala government acts. “As of now, we do not think that the BJP government would be attempting anything new, in fact every effort would be made public to denounce the previous draft as there is a tendency among political parties to take credit for spearheading importing bills. This exercise is futile and repetitive, it is said that after 8 years we are no where near getting one,” said Rekha of Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), NGO working for the empowerment of women, a Panchayati Raj representative. The NGO had already presented a proposed Panchayati Raj Act draft way back in 2001.

Dehradun, January 3
The Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Yashpal Arya today launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP government.

Terming the 22-month rule of the Khanduri government as a big “failure”, Arya said that in wake of poor governance, the Congress is all set to win all five Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttarakhand in the next general elections.

Speaking to mediapersons at Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district here, Arya said that the law and order situation in the state had deteriorated and the state government has miserably failed to take corrective measures.

“The economy of the state has suffered a major jolt due to the wrong policies and ill-vision of the Khanduri government. The development in the state is at a standstill,” he added that all sections of society are suffering because of the anti-people policies of the government.

The state Congress chief also said that the entire party leadership from Uttarakhand and its office-bearers would be attending the extended meeting of the Congress scheduled to be held in Kashipur on January 4.

Arya said that during the meeting, the performance of the Khanduri government would be reviewed and a strategy would be chalked out as to how the Congress would make the people aware about the failures of the state government.

He said that the party would also prepare a strategy for the Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, sources in the Congress said that in Sunday’s meeting, Congress leaders would also discuss the decision taken by party’s central leadership to have a political tie-up with the Samajwadi Party for the next general elections.

The Congress leaders feel that alignment with the Samajwadi Party could prove detrimental for the party as it will hurt the sentiments of those who fought for statehood.