The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	BJP, Cong work on LS lists Umesh Dewan Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 15 The state unit of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has initiated the exercise to prepare the lists of probable candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. While the party has already announced sitting BJP MP Lt Gen Tej Pal Singh Rawat (retd) as the candidate from Pauri Garhwal seat, the list of probable candidates for the remaining four Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttarakhand will be submitted to the BJP’s Central Parliamentary Board by the end of the month. Confirming this, BJP state general secretary (organisation) Naresh Bansal said that the state election committee of the BJP would be convening a meeting at the party’s headquarters in Dehradun on January 16. Besides Chief Minister Maj Gen BC Khanduri (retd), state BJP president Bachi Singh Rawat and former Uttarakhand CM Nityanand Swami, the top brass of the Uttarakhand BJP would be present at the meeting, he added. Sources in the BJP said the main objective behind the meeting is to assess the “winnability” of BJP ticket seekers. “During the meeting, the names of the party leaders interested in contesting the elections would be discussed,” said Bansal, while adding that there may be another meeting towards the end of the month to finalise the panel of the candidates. Cong factions file separately SMA Kazmi Dehradun: The process of selection of candidates for the five Lok Sabha seats in the state has further divided the faction-ridden Uttarakhand Congress with each group sending their own panel of prospective candidates to the party high command. While the normal selection procedure adopted by the Congress involving sending of the party’s central observers was on, the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Harak Singh Rawat not only made his own panel of candidates but also made it public much to the consternation of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) headed by Yashpal Arya. The Uttarakhand Congress has been mainly divided into two camps, one led by Harish Rawat, the former state Congress chief, and the other group having the patronage of veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari. While ND Tiwari was made the Governor of Andhra Pradesh after the Congress’ defeat in the assembly polls of February 2007, Harish Rawat was removed as the state Congress chief. The party high command reposed faith in Yashpal Arya, a Dalit leader and former Speaker, as the state party chief. But it further led to fissures in the already fractured state Congress as Yashpal Arya belonged to the Tiwari camp. From day one, various senior leaders including Harish Rawat and Harak Singh Rawat have been undermining the authority of the state Congress chief. Harish Rawat openly defied the PCC chief by extending support to a local leader who was expelled from the party by Yashpal Arya for discipline. On the other hand, Harak Singh Rawat, as leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), put up an Independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections without consulting the party high command. Harak Singh Rawat had to make a retreat and Congress legislators refrained from voting after the party high command took a serious note of the development. Now, he has again publicised his own panel of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections against the normal party procedure. Interestingly, he has put himself up as a prospective party candidate for the Pauri Garhwal seat along with former union minister Satpal Maharaj and Sarojini Kainthura. From Tehri, he has recommended the names of sitting MP Vijay Bahuguna, Chakrata legislator Pritam Singh and former Dehradun mayor Manorama Sharma. From Haridwar, the panel included the names of Kunwar Parnav, legislator from Laksar, Dehradun legislator Dinesh Aggarwal and Sanjay Paliwal, a local Haridwar leader. From the Nainital seat, he had recommended Harish Rawat, former minister Indira Hariydesh, Rudrapur legislator Tilak Raj Behad and former MP Mahender Pal. From Almora (reserve), the names of PCC chief Yashpal Arya, former legislator Pardeep Tamta and Vimal Arya have been forwarded. Asked about the parallel panel sent by Harak Singh Rawat, PCC chief Yashpal Arya said that the party has set a procedure for the selection of candidates. “Central party observer Viplove Thakur, a senior Congress leader from Himachal Pradesh, had twice visited the state and met everyone to ascertain the choice of party workers and leaders from all five seats,” he added. Bhola Pandey, co-in charge of party affairs in the All-India Congress Committee (AICC), said that the central party observers in consultation with the PCC send the panel of names that is finally cleared by the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party. On the panel send by Harak Singh Rawat, he replied that the Congress is a democratic party and everyone is free to send names. “These are just names. The final decision has to be taken by the CEC on the recommendations of the party observer and the PCC,” he added.
	97 new members in Cong working executive Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar, January 15 The Haridwar city unit of the Congress, in a major overhaul, today announced the list of new members of the working executive with a view to strengthen the party cadre for the parliamentary elections. The city unit today announced the names of 20 vice-presidents, 24 general secretaries and 53 working committee members. “It is up to the party high command to choose the right candidate for the Haridwar seat. No matter who is chosen, we will see that the Congress wins this seat,” said OP Chauhan, city Congress president. With the delimitation, the Haridwar seat, which was a reserved one last time, has become a general seat. As Harish Rawat’s home constituency Almora has become a reserved seat after delimitation, there are talks that he is eyeing the Haridwar seat. He had a hectic schedule on his visit here. Former Haridwar municipal chairman Brahmaswaroop Brahmachari is also leaving no stone unturned to get the party ticket.
	29 awarded Sena Medals Akash Ghai Tribune News Service Roorkee, January 15 Twenty nine Armymen (three posthumous) were conferred with Sena Medals at the Central Command Investiture Ceremony held at Parade Ground, of Bengal Engineer Group and Centre (BEG), here today. The ceremony was held to mark the Army Day. Lt General JK Mohanty, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Central Command honoured 20 soldiers with Sena Medals (gallantry), four with Sena Medals (distinguished) and five with Vashisht Seva Medals after reviewing the march past by the BEG soldiers. The awardees included three widows of soldiers, namely sepoy Manoj Kumar Ray (Bihar Regiment), Grenadier Manoj Kumar Singh (Grenadiers Regiment) and Nayak Bandi Bhagat (Bihar Regiment). These three soldiers have made the supreme sacrifice whilst defending the safety and integrity of the nation. Lauding the bravery of the soldiers, the GOC said that the soldiers displayed exceptional and unflinching courage while combating enemy in difficult conditions of Siachin, LoC or in counter terrorists operations in Jammu and Kashmir as well as north east. Gen Mohanty also laid wreath and paid tributes to the martyrs at BEG's war memorial. The awardees: Sena medal (Gallantry): Maj Abhijit Anand Ukidwe, Maj Snehanshu Sekhar Das, Capt Ashish Rawat, Capt Karan Sagar, Capt Vikas Saha, Lt (now Capt) Parikshit Sharma, Nb Sub (now Sub) Ganesh Singh, Nb Sub Netar Singh, Hav Manindra Kumar, Hav Hari AR, Hav Subhash Chand, Nk Bandi Bhagat (posthumous), Nk Padam Bahadur Rai, NK Mane Sanjay Ananda, L/Nk (now Nk) GurLal Singh, L/Nk Kuldeep Singh, L/Nk Nandan Singh, Sep Abdul Hamid, Sep Manoj Kumar Ray(posthumous), Gdrs Manoj Kumar Singh (posthumous). Sena Medal (D): Col Mohan Singh Shekhawat, Col Steve Muzaffar Ismail, Col Guljeet Singh Jamwal, Hav (now NB Sub) Khem Chand. VSM: Lt Gen Yatainder Singh Panwar, Maj Gen Mahesh Chander Badhani, Brig Har Gur Vinod Singh, Brig Abhimanyu Raut, Brig (now Maj Gen) Sunil Kumar Virmani.
	Govt employees defer strike Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 15 The proposed statewide strike by employees of government departments in Uttarakhand in connection with implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations has been deferred for a fortnight. The decision to defer the indefinite strike, which was supposed to begin today, came after a high level meeting of employees’ union leaders and senior government officials, including principal secretary to CM Subhash Kumar. The officials have given an assurance to the union leaders that their demands would be looked into within the next 15 days. “The government officials have assured us that our demands would be placed before the state cabinet within the next couple of weeks,” said spokesman of the employees’ union Arun Pande. Earlier, over one lakh employees of various government departments had announced a statewide indefinite strike from January 15.
	Satyamitranand enter final Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service Haridwar, January 15 In a scintillating semifinal Satyamitranand School team outscored the Doon Cambridge school team to enter the final of the Inter-District School Cricket Tournament being played at the BHEL stadium. Openers started cautiously and opted for singles and waited for loose balls to score boundaries. Abhishek was the highest scorer with 32 runs of 33 balls, while Surendra scored 25 runs of 22 balls and Amit Parashar scored a late surge with swashbuckling 25 of just 16 balls. For the Doon bowlers, Ravi Giri took three wickets in four overs and gave only 13 runs. Hardik got two for 21 runs and Vipin got two 22 runs in their three over spell. Chasing a target of 139 runs, the bowlers bowled a tight off stump and didn’t give any loose balls to the batsmen. Shashank scored a 20 runs of 17 balls while Hardik scored 14 of 19 balls and Himanshu remained unbeaten on 12 runs. The Doon boys could only score 101 runs in their chase. Sushil Chauhan was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets giving 19 runs in four overs, while Amit in his three overs spell got two wickets for 12 runs and Vijay Mohan in his only over got a wicket giving only three runs. Thus Doon Cambridge team succumbed to defeat by 37 runs and could not even complete full quota of overs.
	New Cricket Association down VBC Gurjara Vishal Thakur Dehradun, January 15 New Cricket Association register a 56 runs victory over VBC Gujrara at the 57th District Cricket League underway at Survey Stadium, here today. Put to bat by the VBC Gujrara team after winning the toss, New Cricket Association went on to score 192 runs in allotted 40 overs. At the score of 19 runs, New Cricket Association lost its first wicket and second at 24 runs. But thereafter it was Aslam who stabilised the inning for his team and scored 56 runs, hitting five fours. Zunaid supported him well on the other end, he scored 47 runs of just 43 balls. For VBC Gujrara, Sonu was the highest wicket taker, he claimed 5 wicketsin seven overs he bowled, giving away just 16 runs. In reply, VBC Gujrara fell shot by 56 runs. The top scorer for them was Anup who made 25 runs. Ashish and Aslam claimed three wickets each for the winning team.